Photo Credit : BCCI
A weather struck test match at Gabba ended with a draw leaving Border -Gavaskar Series at 1-1. Australia who dominated most of the match by scoring 445 in first innings and almost had India followed on , had it not been an impressive fight shown by Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumra 10th wicket partnership that helped India to avoid follow on.
There was a sense of small victory, an emotional boost in Indian dressing room when they avoided the follow on. According to Sunil Gavaskar it was a series defining partnership. Ravis Shastri said he exactly knows how winning a contest within a contest can uplift a team. He called Indian players as “Free Birds” now going into MCG. India has to win just 1 out of 2 tests to retain Border-Gavaskar trophy. It will not be enough though to qualify for WTC final but they will still be pretty happy with it.
From Australian perspective , they are overall bit disappointed. Pat Cummins responded by saying they dont care about momentum going India way that much answering a question. Isha Goha thought Australian team and Cummins were bit too predictive in their tactics against Bumra/Akash. Shastri thought Mitch Marsh could have been a good choice against the pair. Finally, Brad Haddin thought Australia could have shown the positivity and momentum by changing the batting order and lot more aggressive to leave a statement going into MCG.
In my opinion, A draw at Gabba has made series even more interesting. So far we have witnessed a high quality test cricket in this series and expect no less in MCG. India will be going with an uplifted spirit and momentum whereas Australia knows it is not going to be easy to win both remaining tests .They will have to play their best test cricket to achieve this.
Well writte HZ