India won a Test match in Australia after 10 years
India beat Australia by 31 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Monday to record their sixth ever Test win on Australian soil and take a 1-0 lead in the four-match Test series.
Australia's tail wagged...and wagged long enough but couldn't prevent the inevitable despite Nathan Lyon (38 not out) being dropped twice by KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.
Pat Cummins put on a valiant effort by hanging in there for 121 balls and scoring 28 runs while Mitchell Starc scored 28 (44 balls) as well but the Indian bowlers somehow managed to take the last two wickets.
With India needing six wickets to win on the last day and the hosts needing 219, it was a day that promised excitement. The home side pinned their hopes on Shaun Marsh and Travis Head but they disappointed. Marsh fell for 60 and Tim Paine also chipped in with 41 but just couldn't do the job for their team.
But, the tailenders frustrated the visitors and bought Australia close enough to pull off a brilliant win. The trio of Cummins, Lyon and Hazlewood reminded fans of the Edgbaston Test when they needed 107 runs with two wickets and they ended up getting 104 of them before falling.
Today they needed 95 with two wickets in hand and they failed to come as close but the fight and determination showed will definitely give them hope going into the second Test in Perth.
For India however, they had to work hard and almost put themselves in a spot of bother. But, the bowlers somehow got them back into the game and cleaned the tail to register their sixth win in Australia.
This was the first time India won the first Test of a series Down Under.
India lead the four-match Test series 1-0
Here are the five other victories by the Indian team on Australian soil before this:
THIRD TEST, MCG (1977)
India beat Austrlaia by 222 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the New Year's Test.
Batting first, India rode on fifties from Mohinder Amarnath (72) and Gundappa Vishwanath (59) to score 256 in the first innings.
The hosts however, failed to take the lead in reply despite fifties from Craig Serjeant (85) and Gary Cosier (67) as they were bowled out for 213. Bhagwath Chandrasekhar grabbed six for 52 to help India take the lead.
In the second innings, Sunil Gavaskar (118) scored a hundred while Vishwanath hit 54 as India accumulated 343 and gave the hosts a target of 387.
Australia however, failed to get going and were bowled out for 164 with Chandrasekhar picking up six again and Bishan Singh Bedi grabbing four.
But, Australia continued to lead the series 2-1.
FOURTH TEST, SCG (1978)
India clobbered the hosts by an innings and two runs to draw level in the five series.
Australia batted first and could only score 131 as Chandrasekhar and Bedi picked up seven wickets among themselves.
In reply, India scored 396/8 before declaring with Vishwanath top scoring with 79 and a 64 from Karsan Ghavri.
The hosts put on a better display in the second innings with Cosier (68) and Peter Toohey (85) scoring important runs but despite that, they failed to avoid follow on and lost the match by a huge margin.
Erapalli Prasanna picked up four wickets while Bedi and Chandrasekhar grabbed two a-piece.
THIRD TEST, SCG (1981)
India won the third Test by 59 runs to level the three-match series 1-1 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Vishwanath again was the star for India and scored 114 off 222 balls but India failed to score big as they were bowled out for 237 in the first innings.
In reply, Allan Border (124) scored a century for Australia while Doug Walters struck 78 as the hosts posted 419 in their first innings.
Trailing by a hefty margin, India scored 324 in their second innings with openers Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan hitting half-centuries.
Australia needed just 143 runs to win the match and take the series but the Indian bowlers had other plans as Kapil Dev grabbed 5/28 in the second innings to bowl the Aussies out for 83 and draw the series 1-1.
SECOND TEST, ADELAIDE OVAL (2003)
Rahul Dravid starred for India in the match
This was a historic win for India as they won a Test in Australia after 22 years.
India beat the hosts by four wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.
Batting first, Australia scored 523 with Ricky Ponting smashing 242. Simon Katich and Justin Langer also smashed fifties as the Aussies dominated the proceedings.
But India didn't give up and had a double centurion of their own with Rahul Dravid smashing 233. VVS Laxman also scored 148 as India posted 523 in reply.
With a slender lead, Australia had to post a big total to take the game but Ajit Agarkar's 4/41 meant that they could only muster 196 and India had an easy run chase at hand.
However, it turned out to be a tad tricky but 'The Wall' ensured that India get over the line. Dravid remained unbeaten on 72 in the second innings as India chased down 233 to seal a historic win.
THIRD TEST, WACA (2008)
Bowelrs starred for India in the win at the WACA in 2008
India won the match at WACA by 72 runs to make the series 2-1.
Batting first, India scored 330 with Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar scoring fifties.
In reply, Australia were bowled out for 212 with RP Singh taking four wickets with Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma and Anil Kumble picked up two each.
India had to consolidate their lead and that they did with Laxman displaying his ability of batting with the tail yet again and scoring a gritty 79 to help India score 294.
Chasing 413 to win, Australia failed to stitch together partnerships and eventually fell short by 72 runs. Michael Clarke top scored for the hosts with 82 while Pathan grabbed three wickets for India to help them clinch the tie
