The jubilation by the Aussie players was not only about the 3-1 series win, which off course went a long way in restoring their pride after four consecutive BGT series losses to India (two at home and two away), but also for getting to defend their title in the WTC final 2025 against South Africa
On the other hand, India’s dream of making a historic hattrick of BGT series wins on Aussie soil and securing a slot in the third of all three WTC finals since 2021 lay shattered
Australia now hold every bilateral Test prize for which their men’s team competes – WTC mace 2023, the Ashes urn and the Border Gavaskar trophy (BGT)
Not taking the field in the hosts’ second innings, apparently on medical advice for potentially running the risk of aggravating his back spasm, his 32-wkt haul still won Jasprit Bumrah the Player of the Series award
That could potentially act as a balm on the bruised morale of the Indian team, which tumbled to its second successive humbling Test series loss, after suffering a whitewash in their own backyard against New Zealand earlier in the season
India’s wrecker-in-chief in the match, Scott Boland’s maiden 10-wkt match haul (4 in the first and 6 in the second), not only in Test cricket but also in his entire first-class career stretching back to 2011, won him the Player of the Match award
Though Australia looked the dominant side on admittedly as challenging wickets as any in all times Down Under, after their shocking Test series opening loss to India at Perth, it remained a hard-fought contest largely on account of the constant pressure put back on them by the most destructive bowler of the times, Jasprit Bumrah.
Once that constant thorn in their flesh was out of the way for their second outing of the
series-defining 5th and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), the Aussie batsmen clearly breathed easy, and, despite a few hiccups along the way, played with complete freedom to wrap up the match rather quickly, overhauling the 162-run target set by India in just 27 overs at an average of 6 runs per over with six wickets in hand.
In doing so, they were visibly jubilant at wrapping up the series 3-1 and winning back the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) after 10 long years, while at the same time getting to defend their WTC title, which they won against India in 2023, in the final of the third edition of the championship against South Africa at Lord’s in June this year.
Australia now hold every iconic bilateral Test prize for which their men’s team competes – WTC mace 2023, the Ashes urn and the BGT. A photograph of the Aussie team posing with all three trophies, apparently reminding the cricketing world why they are such a force to be reckoned with, has gone viral.
Aussies previously won the BGT in 2014-15
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The previous time Aussies won the BGT, for the bilateral Test series, was way back in 2014-15. Since then, India have turned the tables on them by winning four consecutive series starting 2016-17 (two on Australian soil and two at home).
In the 2024-25 series therefore, Australia were playing for their pride, as much as India were vying for glory of making it a hattrick of Test series wins on Aussie soil and finding consecutive berths in all three editions of the WTC final since 2021.
The record spectator attendances seen on most days at each of the five venues – Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney – was a testament to the immense interest generated by the rivalry between the two cricketing giants, which, in modern times has grown bigger in proportions to even the historically bitter Ashes rivalry between Australia and England.
In his post-match press conference, Australian captain Pat Cummins, who was brilliant both as a player and captain in the series win, acknowledged that Player of the Series Jasprit Bumrah’s absence in their second innings made it easier for them to wrap up the match.
On the other hand, in the Indian team’s post-match press conference, the team’s chief coach Gautam Gambhir was left with the difficult task of defending the indefensible. While acknowledging that Australia obviously played better cricket overall, because of which India lost the series, he defended his team’s performance during the series, maintaining that they fought hard. “We had our chances (right through the series),” he said implying that all were not capitalised upon.
Earlier, overnight 141 for six (powered by a blistering 33-ball 61 by entertaining unorthodox wicketkeeper batsman Rishab Pant), with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar unbeaten on 8 and 6, respectively, the Indian second innings quickly folded up on the third day on Sunday with the addition of just 16 runs, a good 40-odd short of what the team might have wished for.
Cummins got rid of both the allrounders, before Boland did short work of the Indian tail.
When Bumrah came out to bat at No. 10, behind Mohd. Siraj, and departed as India’s last wicket to fall without troubling the scorers, all eyes were glued to the Indian team taking to the field after the break, looking for signs of the one and only.
The sinking feeling
The hearts of Indian fans sank when they could not locate Bumrah in the Indian eleven that took to the field, marshalled by Virat Kohli in the absence of the stand-in captain, the regular captain Rohit Sharma having stood down in the match because of woefully poor form.
With one pacer less, that too the devastating strike bowler who had the Aussies batting lineup in disarray right through the series, and a paltry total to defend, the writing was clearly on the wall.
And wayward bowling upfront by the pace duo of Siraj and the less experienced Prasidh Krishna, apparently due to the additional pressure of shouldering the responsibility of bowling out the opposition without the pace spearhead of the side, did not help the Indian cause either, as it appeared that Australia would run away with the match.
The Indian bowlers gave away 16 extras, including 5 byes, 8 wides, and a no-ball, in the 27 overs bowled with the two opening bowlers accounting for 12 overs each and Nitish Reddy chipping in with two and Sundar just one.
Striking the Bumrah-less Indian opening bowling attack with abundant freedom, Sam Konstas, and even Usman Khwaja, who till then had just an odd time survived the Indian pace spearhead’s opening spell right through the series, raced to 39 in just the 4th over.
Australia lose three quick wickets
It was at this stage that Krishna gained his rhythm, hitting the right line and length. He first dismissed Konstas (22 off 17 balls, 3x4s), and then accounted for the wickets of both Marnus Labuschagne (6) and Steve Smith (4) in quick succession, leaving the hosts vulnerable at 58-3.
But then the highest run-scorer of the series, Travis Head joined Khwaja and the two saw through the rest of the first session of play without any further loss, with Australia going into the lunch break at 71-3, still needing a good 91 runs to win, on a wicket which still had enough in it for the bowlers to exploit and spring a few surprises for the batters.
When, 13 runs later Khwaja too departed, falling to Siraj for a well made 41 off 45 balls (4x4s), India would still have fancied their chances. A couple of more quick wickets and the match would have turned on its head.
But that was not to be as the 6’ 7” tall debutant allrounder and the only batter with a half century in the first innings from both sides, Beau Webster strode in, and combing with a well-set Head, they together decisively took the match away from India with their effortless stroke-making.
The duo put up an unbeaten partnership of 58 runs in 53 balls (Travis Head 34 off 38 balls, 4x4s; Beau Webster 39 off 34 balls, 6x4s) to take the Aussies over the line and into celebratory hugging and jumping.
Pat Cummins first to 200 WTC wickets
Australian captain and star fast bowler Pat Cummins created history on Sunday, January 5, by becoming the first bowler in the world to take 200 wickets in the World Test Championship, initiated in 2021. The 31-year-old pacer, who led the Aussies to the WTC title win in 2023 by getting the better of India in the final played at The Oval, achieved the feat by dismissing Washington Sundar during India’s second innings of the fifth Test at Sydney Cricket Ground.
In the list of bowlers with the most wickets in WTC, Cummins is followed by countryman Nathan Lyon (196 wickets) and former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (195 wickets).
• Pat Cummins (Australia) – 200*
• Nathan Lyon (Australia) – 196
• Ravichandran Ashwin (India) – 195
• Mitchell Starc (Australia) – 165
• Jasprit Bumrah (India) – 156
Cummins, who is Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the five-match Test series against India, has 73 wickets to his name in 17 matches played so far in the 2023-25 edition of WTC. In the list of bowlers with the most wickets in a single edition of WTC, Cummins sits at No. 3 position.
Lyon (88 wickets in 2021-2023) and Jasprit Bumrah (77 wickets in 2023-25) are the only two players who have managed to take more wickets in one edition of WTC than him.
Most wickets in a single edition of WTC
• Nathan Lyon – 88 (2021-23)
• Jasprit Bumrah – 77 (2023-25)
• Pat Cummins – 73* (2023-25)
• Ravichandran Ashwin – 71 (2019-21)
• Pat Cummins – 70 (2019-21)
