India creates history by winning the series 4-0 vs. Australia

India 272 and 4-158 (Cheteshwar Pujara 82, Virat Kohli 41, Glenn Maxwell 2-54) beat Australia 262 and 164 Peter Siddle 50, Ed Cowan 24, Ravindra Jadeja 5-58) by six wickets.

Team India added a new chapter in their history by winning four Tests in a series of even matches against any country while beating the mighty Australia 4-0.

Australia managed 262 and 164 in two innings whereas India scored 272 in their first innings followed by 158 with six wickets in hand in 31.2 overs in the second.

Ravindra Jadeja - A match winning bowling figures of 5-58
Ravindra Jadeja – A match winning bowling figures of 5-58

Ravindra Jadeja (India) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his match winning bowling figures of 5-58 in the second innings.

Ravichandran Ashwin (India) was announced ‘Player of the series’ for his excellent off spin bowling in all four Tests. He was the highest wicket taker from either sides in the series by grabbing 29 wickets at a super average of 20.10 per wicket with the best of 7-103 in an innings and 12-198 in a match.

India clinched the fourth Test in just three days on Sunday, March 24, 2013, at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi.

Earlier, India started the day at 8-266 in 68.1 overs and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was unbeaten at 10 runs. Ishant Sharma joined him early in the day but was clean bowled by Nathan Lyon for a duck and was replaced by Pragyan Ojha who was declared leg before wicket without scoring any run on the next ball. Kumar scored 14 and the hosts reached 272 in 70.2 overs while gaining a nominal first innings lead of 10 runs.

Nathan Lyon achieved his career’s best figures of 7-94 in an innings whereas James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Glenn Maxwell shared one wicket each.

The Kangaroos had a shocking beginning of their second innings when they lost their openers, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell at 20 after a personal contribution of eight runs each. Both batsmen were dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja and that was the start of the spin domination in the innings. Ed Cowan tried to consolidate but the middle order surrendered against the spin trio of Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha. Cowan was the fifth batsman who went back to the pavilion at 53 in 18.4 overs at his personal feat of 24 from 44 balls with 5 fours.

Steven Smith and Matthew Wade got together in the center and took the score to 68 in 25 overs without getting any boundary. Wade was dropped at five runs by the Indian skipper, MS Dhoni, off Ashwin in the next over as the score crept to 88 in 30 overs at  lunch interval. Jadeja stunned the Aussies by taking two wickets on consecutive deliveries of the 33rd over. He destroyed the stumps of Steven Smith on the first ball for 18 and Mitchell Johnson followed him in the same manner on the very next ball.

The visitors lost their seventh wicket at 94 as Peter Siddle came to the rescue of his team again and dispatched 5 fours in the next three overs. The wickets kept on crumbling from the other end as Siddle smashed his successive fifty in the match on the second ball of the 47th over. He was stumped smartly by Dhoni off Ashwin on the following delivery for 50 from just 45 with 7 fours as the entire Australian side was finally bowled out for 164 runs in 46.3 overs.

Ravindra Jadeja was the star performer with five wickets, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha shared two each whereas Ishant Sharma claimed one wicket.

India was given an easy task of scoring 155 runs to win the match with plenty of time left in the game. They lost an early wicket of Murali Vijay at 19 as Virat Kohli associated with Cheteshwar Pujara. The pair took off nicely by punishing the ball at ease while sending it out of the boundary regularly. Pujara dispatched 3 fours in the 12th over off Mitchell Johnson and thrashed his successive fifty in the Test in the 18th over. The second wicket partnership added 104 quick fired runs and enhanced the score to 123 when Virat Kohli lost his wicket for 41 runs.

The little master, Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane were unable to impress and scored a mere run each. MS Dhoni appeared in the park next as Pujara continued with his attack and added another 3 fours in the 31st over and the first hit the winning four on the second ball of the 32nd over. Cheteshwar Pujara secured his end for 82 off 92 balls with 11 fours and Dhoni scored 12 as the hosts thrashed 158 runs after utilising 31.2 overs.

Nathan Lyon and Glenn Maxwell were the only successful bowers of the Kangaroos with two wickets each.

India triumphed in the fourth Test with a big margin of six wickets within just three days and it was the first time ever that they have won a series 4-0.


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