Former Australian bowling star Brett Lee has heaped praise on the Indian cricket team for their historic Test series win Down Under, to retain the 2020-21 Border Gavaskar Trophy.
In the absence of captain Virat Kohli, who was their best batsman in Australia in the previous edition of the trophy, the Men in Blue flourished under stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane who saw numerous Test debutants becoming heroes in the four-match Test series.
“I don’t know how India walked away with a 2-1 victory, to be honest, but they did so convincingly.
“To think about the losses that India went through before and during the series in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hanuma Vihari, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and yet they kept putting players up. They have got so much squad depth.
“You think about players like Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini - who was an incredible injection to the Indian pace attack – they have all done a great job.
“To go back to where it all started, the Pink Test… the Adelaide Test that Australia won by eight wickets. India had gotten bowled out for just 36 runs. They go to the Boxing Day Test at MCG and fight back with an eight-wicket win of their own. They dominate Australia and all of a sudden, the series is one-all.
“What happens in Sydney? it’s a draw. Ravi (Ashwin) and Han (Vihari) bat for half a day on the fifth day as Australia fail to take those five wickets. All of a sudden, Australia have to go to Gabba with Australia needing to win to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
“The Gabba sees Australia make 369 and 294 while India make 336 and then end up 7/329. They chase down the runs on the last day. Over 300 runs chased, which is incredible, on that fifth-day wicket.
“Rishabh Pant is an absolute legend the way that he played, the freedom of cricket that these guys played with is phenomenal. You would probably have to go a long, long way to see a better Test series than what we have just witnessed.
“Congratulations to India… it was incredible how they just kept putting up players when the others were randomly falling like ninepins. India found a way to win and Australia will now go back and try to work out what they could have done differently.
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Greg Wood
