The Indian cricket team is set to revive the toughest rivalry with Australia when both teams kick off the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Perth on Friday. Australia are looking all set for the biggest battle in red-ball cricket with a strong lineup but India is struggling with some issues ahead of the Perth Test.
Indian team is low on confidence after they were brought down by New Zealand in the home Test series and will enter the Perth Test without captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Shubman Gill. But India can find inspiration and hope from their historic Test win at The Gabba aka Brisbane Cricket Ground during the 2020-21 tour.
Cricket is all about comebacks and breaking records but on November 19, 2021, the Indian team pulled off something impossible at the Gabba to stun the sporting world. Ahead of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, India TV's sports editor Samip Rajguru highlighted the famous win in the very first episode of a special podcast 'Cricket Talks With Samip Rajguru' on Thursday.
India's first Test series win against Australia on their home turf came during the 2018-19 tour under Virat Kohli's captaincy. It was a historic moment for the Indian fans to finally get one over the Aussies but who would have thought that they would be repeating the same result in their next tour and with some dominance?
After a huge loss in the four-match series opener in Adelaide, India fought back with a big win in Melbourne. Both teams shared the spoils in the third match in Sydney to set up a spicy battle at the Brisbane Cricket Ground for the series result.
Australia's record at The Gabba was enough to scare any visiting side at the time. No team dared to call themselves favourite going into the Gabba and it was the same case in 2021. Australia were unbeaten at The Gabba since 1988, winning 24 of 31 Test matches, to make it an impenetrable castle.
To make things worse, India entered Australia's fortress without their captain and key batter Virat Kohli, who missed the game due to the birth of his first child. Australia were tipped as clear favourites by both Indian and home media.
After winning the toss, Tim Paine-led Australian side scored a total of 369 in their first innings and India replied with 336 to keep the game alive. Indian pacers did a great job to bowl out Australia to 294 in their second innings, setting a 328-run target in the fourth innings.
The average fourth innings score at The Gabba was around 160 runs at that time so it was a near-impossible chase for the Indian side. India lost opener Rohit Sharma early with just 18 runs on the scorecard and everyone thought it was over.
But Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara led India's fightback with a 114-run stand for the second wicket. But Australia dragged the game to the wire with Pat Cummins taking big wickets of Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Mayank Agarwal.
Then Rishabh Pant stood strong by answering the Aussie pace with aggressive cricket rather than the traditional approach. Rishabh played fearless cricket and took the game to Australia by scoring an unbeaten 89 runs off just 138 balls.
It was a once-a-lifetime knock from the young wicketkeeper batter to guide India to a thrilling three-wicket win in the closing stages on Day 5. It was not just the first win at The Gabba or a series win for India, the world was in awe of India's brave fightback against Australia's world-class bowling attack.
"The way India fought back with fearless approach, showed resilience and bravery was more important than the result," Samip said on the podcast. "Even if they had lost that game at The Gabba, it was a win for the Indian cricket team."
Rishabh brought India's win with a four off Josh Hazlewood and triggered the 'Tuta hai Gabba ka ghamand' from official Hindi broadcast commentator Vivek Razdan. Those words got printed on the Indian fans' hearts immediately and the current Indian team will look to take some much-needed encouragement from that Gabba win.
Cricket Talks With Samip Rajguru Episode 1: Watch the full video here
