Dharamsala Test: India ease to eight-wicket victory

Tags: Australia tour of India,2017, India Vs Australia 4th Test at Dharmasala, Mar 25-29, 2017, India, Australia, Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane, Kannaur Lokesh Rahul

Published on: Mar 28, 2017

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

India defeated Australia by 8 wickets in the fourth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy at Dharamsala on Tuesday to clinch the series 2-1

India defeated Australia by 8 wickets in the fourth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy at Dharamsala on Tuesday to clinch the series 2-1.

The hosts were chasing a small target of 106, and got home after losing the wickets of Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara, in 23.5 overs at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium.

KL Rahul continued his great form with yet another half century. He was unbeaten at 51 when the game ended. Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane came in and played an impressive hand of 38 not out from 27 balls, being particularly severe on Pat Cummins.

India began the day needing 87 to win, with Murali Vijay on 6 and Rahul on 13. But, Vijay was dismissed by Pat Cummins having added only 2 more runs to his account.

The in-form Cheteshwar Pujara was also unlucky to be run out. He had not even opened his account when a complete lack of communication between him and Rahul resulted in Pujara being stranded. He was run out by a direct hit from Maxwell.

Cummins tried to bounce out Rahane, but the Indian captain responded by taking on the pace bowler, and hitting consecutive sixes in opposite directions of the ground.

Rahul continued to look good out in the middle, although he was lucky with a couple of edges that fell tantalisingly short of fielders. Thanks to Rahane’s dominance, the end came rather swiftly, as India regained the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

The day before, India had bundled out Australia for 137 runs in their second innings, which saw India setting a 106 to win at Dharamsala. Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja all claimed three scalps each as India finally turned the screws on Australia.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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