India has registered a historic victory at Melbourne in the third Test match against Australia to ensure they end 2018 with a 2-1 lead in the four-match series.
India dominated the Test match from day 1 after skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. The batting order, for once, stood up and made 443-7 in the first innings courtesy notable contributions from debutant Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and the captain himself.
Following India's innings, there were a lot of talks regarding the pitch and how India's "slow batting" had cost them the Test match. But with ball in hand, Jasprit Bumrah almost single-handedly wrestled Australia out of the Test match as his 6-33 ensured Australia got no more than 151 in the first innings.
India did not enforce the follow-on and Pat Cummins triggered a collapse but once again Mayank Agarwal stood tall and got able support from Rishabh Pant to ensure India set the hosts a target of 399.
In the fourth innings, India once again struck early and all the bowlers got into the act to set up a memorable victory. But this victory did not come without a mini-scare as Cummins got stuck in and played a quite wonderful innings of 63.
In fact, Kohli would have been worried when rain did not allow a single delivery to be bowled in the first session of the fifth day. But play eventually resumed after lunch and it was only a matter of time before India bundled Australia out to register a 137-run victory.
The victory makes sure India will retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy and Twitter, naturally, went crazy.
Virat Kohli shouts ‘bhenchod’
— Prajakta Bhawsar (@ViratsFangirl18) December 29, 2018
Harbhajan in commentary box -
“Ben Stokes ko yaad karte hue”
?????#AUSvIND
Virat is pumped.#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/V4HsQxIeYU
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2018
Punter, Johnson, Warne and Okeefe on air speaking and tweeting “Well played India, easily the better team” #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/QWg7kZ4jXh
— Naveen (@ImNsamy) December 30, 2018
'We are playing against the best attack in the world at the moment' - Paine https://t.co/BaztFzNgYA #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/iJpzbmIYWY
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 30, 2018
It's coming home, the border-gavaskar remains in India and poor Australian's can't do anything but swallow it.
— Left Arm Chinaman (@leftarmchinamen) December 30, 2018
Boneless kangaroo cooked in an tandoor over with Indian spices on the house today. #AUSvIND
Avenges Perth loss!#India wins Melbourne test by 137 runs! 2-1 lead ? #INDvAUS #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/4E9NawO3BS
— Piyu Nair ?? (@DtPiyu) December 30, 2018
#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/F1Pdw0P5Ax
— Nachiket Sant (@Nachiketsant22) December 30, 2018
Australian XI for Sydney
— Sandy Lanceley (@sandylanceley) December 29, 2018
Cummins
Cummins
Cummins
Cummins
Cummins
Cummins
Paine
Cummins
Cummins
Cummins
Lyon#AusVInd
retweet if Pat Cummins should open the batting next test. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/0Iz58um8OG
— Paul Morello (@ThePaulMorello) December 29, 2018
#AUSvIND #foxcricket Tim Paine's failed mission pic.twitter.com/5YMCaLXPlA
— prem swaroop (@prem_swaroop) December 29, 2018
Kohli and Bumrah crediting the first class cricket in India for their success is the perfect response to the canteen XI jibes by Aussie commentators #AUSvIND
— Pritesh Shrivastava (@pritesh_shri) December 30, 2018