GABBA- the special nickname for Brisbane Cricket stadium located in the capital of Australia witnessed tremors through the cricket field by the roar of the Indian team from the dressing room and of the hearts of the two Indians batting on-field feeling a rise in their chests while etching an indelible history and writing a glorious story of victory inside the Australian fortress.
19 January 2021, an unforgettable day in the history of Indian Test Cricket
where unbreakable records were broken and unexceptional records were made lifting the pride of the country by the young Indian boys. And the one who finished the match and crossed the winning line for the team was none other than Rishabh Pant who took over the brilliant Aussie bowlers fearlessly and gave us moments we sports lovers live for and to cherish forever. He completely broke the backbone of Aussies and little did he know what his chronicling was leading to, how he was slowly penetrating the hearts of every Indian, what he was going to make everyone witness; a treasure etched in golden letters forever on the historical ground and the fate of the young, barely fit men ready to fight for the nation.
India must have had many wins in Test Cricket on foreign grounds, why is this one special? Firstly, the greatness of Test Cricket is too monumental to be expressed in words. It is the game of extreme perseverance, patience, endurance, resilience, and tests the highest skills of the players. Secondly, the opposition they were facing and the core strength of the Aussies was preposterous in this series as they crossed the pavilion with the least of injuries. Thirdly, the injury concern of the India team was increasing and the absence of Virat Kohli was a huge blow already. With all the main cricketers back in the dressing room, the responsibility fell on the shoulders of the newer side of the team with a majority of them being debutants including Shubman Gill, Navdeep Saini, Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar and T. Natrajan and the fierce attack of the Aussies wasn’t helping either.
And lastly, the records of the Indian team against Australia in Australia (except that the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy was won by India for the first time in Australia and India managed to retain it!), especially Australia’s unending winning streak of 32 years at Gabba were going against the odds of India’s winning and stealing a series win. The poor performance of the first Test match of the 4-match Test series was another setback. But how a setback can be converted into a comeback was shown by the Indian team in the second match and continued till the last breath of the series! With the third match ending in a draw, we knew who the real winner was. The toughness of R. Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari by countering some friendly and un-friendly banter by their fierce rivals and facing injuries on-field; they indeed laid a battle on.
Chasing 328 in a tricky pitch in the last innings of the last test match which continued till the last hour of the last session of the last day to seal a deal and retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy was all the inexperienced side had in mind. Despite the loss of faith of the fans and the cricket experts, everyone was awestruck by the determination and belief of the Indian team who put their body on line even after getting hit by the fierce bouncers and brought down the best Test series win India ever had.
