Team India team won the series by 2-1 against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023, after both teams agree to stop the play on Day 5–and ultimately the match ended in a draw. For India, other positive news was when New Zealand won the first test match against Sri Lanka with that, Men in Blue qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final.
Apart from the last test match at Ahmedabad, all other tracks were spin friendly, and the Baggy Greens spinners utilised it as desired. Indian head coach, Rahul Dravid appreciated the visitors’ spinner–and said it was the best spin attack from the last decade since Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann were on the tour of India in 2012/13.
Indian head coach on Australian spin trio-
“They (Aussie spinners) have been exceptional, led by Nathan Lyon. He has been brilliant for Australia for many years but right through the series he was exceptional, the kind of pressure and control he gave Cummins and Smith was outstanding,” Dravid said.
In the wicket tally, Ravichandran Ashwin topped the list with 25 wickets in four matches, but Nathan Lyon was joint-second along with Ravindra Jadeja with 22 dismissals, while the young spinner Todd Murphy finished at 4th spot with his 14 scalps in the BGT 2023.
Runs galore here in Ahmedabad with the final Test resulting in a Draw!
A series to remember for both teams 👍👍#TeamIndia | #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/f0auEbsMP4
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 13, 2023
“Both young spinners (Kuhnemann and Murphy) gave him that kind of support. Lot of times we have seen overseas teams have only one good spinner and the others leak runs, but credit to the two young spinners, they maintained that pressure and picked wickets,” he further added.
Steve Smith-led side won the last test match at Indore, Lyon was decisive in that game, as he picked his first 10-wicket haul in India in the third test match of the series. While the young leg spinner, who bagged his ‘Baggy Green’ cap in this tour, was very crucial, in his debut match at Nagpur, he picked 7 wickets. In four test matches, he dismissed Virat Kohli on four occasions.
The left-arm spinner, Matthew Kuhnemann bundled out the hosts for just 109 in the first innings at Indore. His spell of 5/16 in just nine overs looks eventually made the home side lose the game.
“Some of the guys were saying since Panesar and Swann probably not played over the last decade couple of spinners of this kind of quality or this quality of spells, they have played individual spinners who have been great over the years but to have a quality spin attack I think it is the best in the last 10 years,” Dravid stated.
Dravid mentioned England’s two spinners, Swann and Panesar, then it is required to go back to 2012 for the last time India was beaten in a Test series at home when they lost 2-1 to England.
One of the main reasons for Alastair Cook-led side winning the longer format of the series in India in 2012 was their spin attack with off-spinner, Swann and left-arm spinner, Monty Panesar, in particular, was simply sensational in the entire four-test match series, especially against some of the legends of Indian cricket.
India will now take on Australia in the 3-match ODI match series, starting on March 17 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.