(Cricket news) India came into day 5 of the Ahmedabad Test in a position from which it was impossible to lose. However Australia batted really well to secure a draw as India could only manage to take 2 wickets. The series was very well contested as both teams played really good cricket. Looking back at it the 2nd Test turned out to be the decider.

Had Australia not collapsed the way they did there the situation would’ve been very different. New Zealand managed to beat Sri Lanka in a last ball thriller at Christchurch which fixed India’s place at the World Test Championship final. The final will be played at the Oval between these two sides which should be just as exciting.

India’s 3 spin bowling all-rounders were incredible throughout the series. The player of series award was shared by Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Both of them bowled exceptionally well throughout the series and dragged their side to victory. Axar Patel didn’t bowl that much but he showed his quality with the willow and finished as the 3rd highest scorer behind Usman Khawaja and Virat Kohli. Shubman Gill didn’t play the first 2 Tests as KL Rahul was preferred. He got the opportunity in the last 2 Tests and managed to score a brilliant century in the 4th Test.

Virat Kohli broke his century drought in Test cricket and apart from that he batted well throughout the series. He has found his Test form back at the right time before the WTC final. Rohit Sharma ton in the 1st innings of the 1st Test set the tone for the series and he played decently well for the rest of the series.

The biggest challenge for India in the WTC final will be to adapt to the conditions. The players will play 3 ODIs against Australia and the IPL before going straight into the final. On top of that there is only a 8 day gap between the IPL final and the WTC final which is a big concern for India.

The biggest takeaway from the series is that the majority of the players contributed at some point of the series. Rohit Sharma captaincy was pretty good as he got the bowling changes and field changes right almost every time. It has to be said that Australia got their initial squad selection wrong.

Dropping Travis Head was definitely a wrong decision and things could’ve been different had he played in Nagpur. Injury absence of Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green in the first 2 Tests followed by the absence of captain Pat Cummins in the last 2 Tests were massive losses. Even if Josh Hazelwood missed the entire series and had Australia had a fully fit squad things could’ve been very different.

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