Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag lead wishes for Team India's emphatic series win over Australia after 71 years
India celebrated a historic test series victory in Australia after the weather-affected fourth match at the Sydney Cricket Ground finished in a draw.
Captain Virat Kohli's team entered the final day with hopes of a 3-1 series victory and also its first win at the SCG since 1978, but rain meant there was no play on Monday and umpires called it off early. The draw gave India a 2-1 series win.
"A very proud moment," Kohli said. "More so because for the last 12 months we understand what we have gone through as a team, we understand the kind of cricket we have been able to play.
"But the fact that the reward has come in the most historic series for Indian cricket is the cherry on the top of the cake."
India, who only needed to avoid a defeat here to clinch the series, effectively ended this match as a contest by scoring 622-7 declared over almost two full days after Kohli won the toss and batted. Man-of-the-series Pujara (193) scored his third century of the tour and Rishabh Pant made 159 not out as the India squad demonstrated it was a class above an Australian team weakened by the absence of the banned senior batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner.
Meanwhile, former and current players along with administrators hailed the historic series win on Twitter.
Following are the reactions.
An amazing day for Indian cricket! The resilience and determination of #TeamIndia has made this a series to be cherished. Proud of the boys. #INDvAUS
Bishan Singh Bedi
Kudos to Team Ind fr recovering lot of (sic) lost ground in (sic) Sth Afr/Eng-truly remarkable feat-beating Aust fr 1st time in (sic) their own backyard-2 guys @cheteshwar1 & @Jaspritbumrah93 personified consistency-all playing X1's gr8 resolve/determination helped cross the Rubicon..Congrats All!
VVS Laxman
Many congratulations #TeamIndia on this historic series win in Australia. It took a complete Team effort from every member of the side and it gives such an immense sense of satisfaction and joy to see what the boys have done on the field. Let's cherish this special series win
Virender Sehwag
Congratulations #TeamIndia for this memorable win. Every cricket lover in India will be very proud of this one and a special effort by every member in the Team to ensure this result.
Harbhajan Singh
Proud of you guys Well done Team India for winning the test series in Australia.. congratulations @cheteshwar1 for winning MOS u (sic) been a backbone of indian batting line up.. keep it up @BCCI bowling wise @Jaspritbumrah93 has been phenomenal..love ur work
When was the last time you did something for the first time? Historic 1st Test Series win for India in Australia! Superb effort by #TeamIndia ! It may have ended in rain but that's not going to dampen the celebrations! Proud #INDvAUS
Mitchell Johnson
Congratulations to the Indian cricket team for making history, winning in Australia for the 1st time is a proud achievement for all of India. @cheteshwar1 & the whole Indian bowling attack was just unstoppable this series. Was thrilling to watch @Jaspritbumrah93 bowling
Michael Clarke
Congratulations team on a very well played Test Match series 2-1.
CK Khanna (acting president, BCCI):
I wish to congratulate the Indian team for their series win in Australia and Virat Kohli for his superb captaincy. He led from the front.
(With Agencies Inputs)
