India have beaten Australia 2-1 with an eight-wicket win on day 4 at Dharamsala. KL Rahul led the chase of a modest 106 with an unbeaten 51. India have won all four Test series of their 2016-17 home season. India have regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Thank you for joining us in the coverage of this game. Thirteen Tests are done for the season. The cricket doesn't stop in India. The IPL starts April 5. Till then, it's goodbye. Cheers!
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UPDATES
Virat Kohli collects the ICC Test Championship mace from Sunil Gavaskar and a cheque for $1 million. This is for India achieving the No.1 Test ranking.
Here's the presentation:
Virat Kohli: This is our best series win so far. I thought the England series was intense. Guys showed good maturity and responsibility. The changes we made in our fitness routine has paid off through the season. The ability to bounce back has been great and we have finished No.1. There have been guys who have scored throughout the season and the responsibility has been shared and that's how you become No.1. Fitness and the desire of the fast bowlers through this season has been incredible. It's still a few weeks to go for me to be 100% fit.
Ajinkya Rahane : Really enjoyed this. Hats off to everyone. We decided at lunch on day 1 that we had to take one wicket and capitalise on that. Kuldeep, hats of to him. We knew he was bowling well in the nets. Fantastic to the seamers do well on Indian wickets. Credit to Australia as well as they played some good cricket. This was the best wicket, good pace and bounce and it was easy to bat if you applied yourself.
Ravindra Jadeja is the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series: Feels very good to be the No.1 Test bowler. I was thinking that I should take my time while batting. Wanted to perform well for my team. The coach and captain have been telling me I have the skills to bat long. I have been trying day by day to improve as a player. Me and Ashwin have been trying to create pressure from both ends. We have been discussing at the dressing room how to work the batsmen out. I am looking to score centuries so when I celebrate, I might celebrate with two bats!
Steve Smith : Magnificent series. One of the best I have been a part of. Credit to India, they are a fantastic cricket side, particularly in their backyard. If you give them a sniff, they will take that. Fantastic learning curve for the Australians. Guys came here with some good plans. That middle session where we lost 5, we were behind the 8-ball. Umesh was fantastic. Lot of people wrote us off, calling it a 4-0 whitewash. Thought we adapted well. Amazing venue, amazing mountains in the background. This was the quickest of the wickets we played on. Very good wicket. I have been pretty intense throughout. A t times my emotions did slip a little so I apologise for that.
Here are the spot interviews by Shastri. The full presentation to follow:
Kumble: We said in the West Indies we would take it one match at a time, one session. It was a tough game, it was important the team stood up with Virat absent. Rahane has led the team brilliantly. The fast bowlers have been brilliant. The mindgames was done on the pitch. The positives have been adapting to the conditions. All 25 players have stood up to different conditons. One area we need to improve on is the catching. To come back after losing in Pune was brilliant. Jaddu was brilliant in this season. He has been in the shadows earlier. We can do well abroad. DRS has helped Indian cricket.
Ashwin: To see a spell like that from Umesh, the way he got Warner was special. The last couple of months have been a challenge, battling a few injuries. Thanks to the physio. Jaddu and I have been hand in glove. He is one of the most economical bowlers, he has given me the cushion.
Umesh : I knew since this is the last match of the season, I wanted to give my best. These spells are rare. I am thankful to Sanjay Bangar.
Pujara : We were hoping to win this 3-1. The fast bowlers were fantastic. We have been having good stands. We knew that after lunch if we keep batting we will get good scores. Before lunch we lost just one wicket. I would still like to keep going if there are few more matches. We wanted to be No.1 in the Test rankings.
Rahul : After Pune Test I knew I couldn't play too many shots. I had to play the waiting game. 2-1 win against Australia is what matters. We wanted to be behind the board that says Champions. I wanted to take a few hits for the team. I thought lets counter-attack today. You should ask Pujara's wife is she wants him to take a break!
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That ends a very long Test season for India - 13 Tests, 4 series. India have won all four, against New Zealand, England, Bangladesh and now Australia. India took three of those very convincingly and were expected to thrash Australia, with calls of 4-0, but the Australians, to their credit, made them sweat. Not many predicted that the 4th Test would become the decider. The stakes were high, and India, even without Kohli, stood up and delivered the final blow.
With a whip past midwicket, KL Rahul secures an eight-wicket win for India and brings up his fifty as well! He punches the air and roars in delight. India have beaten Australia 2-1 and regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
KL Rahul is speeding towards a fifty, as India accelerate towards their target of 106. Just ten needed now
Very nearly another run out but this time Rahul is quicker and grounds his bat. Tel you what Maxwell's on fire this morning with his throws. If only his team had more runs to work with.
India 42/2 - WICKET - Pujara run out 0
We have a run out now just to spice things up. Pujara dropped this towards short cover and set off for a risky single, there was a lot of hesitation in the calling, Pujara was looking at the fielder Maxwell first, then at Rahul, stopped, stuttered, set off again but Maxwell's throw was spot on and knocked the stump out
Just a few minutes earlier Hayden was joking on commentary that if anyone booked tickets to fly out of Dharamsala early today, they would need a really good travel agent if Pujara ends up batting the whole day. Don't cancel those tickets yet.
India 41/1 - WICKET - M Vijay c Wade b Cummins 8
Some cheer for Australia but maybe too late. Outside the off stump, held its line, half hearted push from Vijay, thin edge to the keeper, Vijay walked. Similar to his first innings dismissal
India 40/0
Curator Sunil Chauhan was just shown on camera wearing a cowboy hat. In a series where the pitch has been such a big talking point, he has produced the best pitch of the series. No complaints from either side. Lets take our hats off to the man with the hat.
India 31/0
Hazlewod bowls one wide outside off and Rahul slashes that past the slips and gully for four.
The Australians are appealing for everything in the first over itself. Two shouts for LBW by Hazlewood to Vijay. Two sounds on both occasions, on the second there was a clear inside edge
Published - March 28, 2017 09:32 am IST
