The Border-Gavaskar Trophy will remain in the hands of the Indians after the fourth Test ended in an anticlimactic draw in Ahmedabad last night.
India won the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi convincingly before Australia notched just their second win in India since 2004 in Indore.
Faced with a chance to draw the series in Ahmedabad, Australia got off to a strong start with centuries to Usman Khawaja (180) and Cameron Green (114) – the first of his Test career – pushing the visitors towards a first-innings total of 480.
India responded, however, on bat-friendly wicket to reach a first-innings total of 571 thanks to centuries courtesy of Virat Kohli (186) – his first since November 2019 – and Shubman Gill (128).
With a little over a day of play remaining and both teams still requiring a second innings to bat, Australia nudged their way towards an ultimately insipid draw with Travis Head (90) and Marnus Labuschagne (63*) both reaching half-centuries as they finished 2-for-175.
After a trio of pitches that were criticised for their inability to allow for five-day Tests, only 21 wickets were taken in five days in Ahmedabad.
Kohli was rewarded with the Player of the Match for his classy century whilst Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin shared Player of the Series honours.
Ashwin led all wicket-takers for the series with 25 at an average of 17.28 which included a pair of five-wicket hauls whilst Jadeja finished with 22 at 18.86 also with two five-wicket hauls.
Nathan Lyon took 22 wickets for Australia at 22.36 which included an 8-for-64 effort in Indore whilst Todd Murphy – in his debut Test series – was the only other bowler to take double-digit wickets finishing with 14 at a 25.21 average.
Lyon also became the most prolific non-Indian bowler on Indian soil in Test history after grabbing his record 56th wicket in the country.
Australian opener Usman Khawaja finished with the series’ highest run tally of 333 at 47.57 with Kohli’s 297 at 49.50 second and Axar Patel’s 264 at 88.00 third, despite the offspinner batting at nine twice, eight twice, and seven once.
The two sides will now face off in a trio of ODIs beginning on Friday before a highly-anticipated World Test Championship Final at The Oval in June – which was locked in after Sri Lanka’s tight loss to New Zealand this week.
