New Delhi, Jan 5 After Australia secured a 3-1 victory over India to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade, former cricketers shared their views on the contest, describing the series result as a cricketing spectacle of the highest quality.
After claiming a 6-wicket victory over India in the fifth and final Border-Gavaskar Test, Australia also secured their place in the Final at Lord's in June.
The win moved Australia to 63.73 point percentage of possible points, denying India (50.00 per cent of possible points) of the spot in their last Test match of the cycle.
"Rarely do iconic series live up to expectations; BGT is an exception that exceeds expectations every time. It is solely due to how much this trophy means to the players and how badly they want to win. The result is a cricketing spectacle of the highest order. Congratulations Australia, deserving winners," former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer posted on X.
India's senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja have failed to show magic with their bat with Jasprit Bumrah being the lone warrior for India throughout the series.
However, Bumrah, who was named Player of the Series for his 32 scalps, missed Australia's second batting innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground due to back spasm and Mohammed Siraj instead shared the new ball alongside Prasidh Krishna, who clinched three wickets in the defense of 161.
"He was devastating at times, so it's no surprise to see Jasprit Bumrah named the Player of the Series," Cricket Australia posted on X.
For Australia, Scott Boland, who got the Player of the Match award for his game haul of 10-76, including a six-fer in the second innings.
"Senior Batsmen have let down Team India for sure but First change seamer has been the biggest difference between the two teams if you dig deep," Irfan Pathan said on X.
"It will be unfair to not appreciate the giant effort put on the field by @Jaspritbumrah93 … he gave it his all" Pathan said in another post.
"Australia was better than us in all the departments. Congratulations," he added.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan in his cheeky way, congratulated Australia on the series triumph. "Thanks to all my Indian supporters who have congratulated me on a series prediction of 3-1 Aussie Win .. especially those who were very lively after India went 1-0 up."
"Great scenes at the SCG .. An amazing series comes to completion .. The best team won .. The Aussies knew how to win the key moments .. been a pleasure to broadcast," Vaughan added.
English umpire Richard Kettleborough termed Australia's victory a greatest comeback. "You are watching the "Greatest Comeback" by the Australian team when they lost 4 BGT since 2015. Beau Webster finishes off in style and Australia claims the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 years. "This seems to be bigger than Ashes."
Cummins-led Australia will face Temba Bavuma's South Africa in the WTC summit clash on June 11 at Lord's, with the Proteas closing out their Final qualification run with a tense two-wicket win in their Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.
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