The fourth Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy ended in a draw. Both the teams decided not to play the last hour of the game as it was clear that they would not be able to arrive at a result whatsoever. Despite Australia dominating the Indian bowling, two good things came out of the hammering they received.
Legendary spinners join the team
Throughout the game, Indian bowlers received a severe hammering from the Aussie batters. The pitch was of no help, and the Gujarat heat was also not helping the cause. The umpires, in discussion with the two captains, had decided that the play will end within the next two overs, and the players can get some early rest ahead of the upcoming ODI series.
Thus, with two overs to go, the Indian team management decided to introduce two legendary spinners into the attack. Off-spinner Shubman Gill, who is known to dazzle the opponent batters with his carrom balls, came to bowl the 77th over of the innings. Gill decided to open his spell with a floater outside the off stump. Labuschagne was absolutely clueless as to what to do and decided to eventually defend the ball. Throughout the over, Gill kept the batters guessing and gave away just one run.
After bowling 6 top-notch deliveries, Gill decided it was time to transfer the ball to another legend. That’s when veteran leg-spinner Cheteshwar Pujara stepped in. Pujara is one of those spinners who can bowl a really mean bouncer. Throughout the over, Pujara kept trying to go for his signature bouncers, but the pitch was not helping the vaunted bowler whatsoever. Pujara pushed the batsmen onto the backfoot and made them really uncomfortable. Fans had even heard Rohit Sharma say that had these two trump spinners come into bowl earlier, India would have seen a victory on day 4 itself.
Both the acclaimed bowlers received a warm welcome from their teammates. The official page of the Indian Cricket team also posted on Instagram and honored the contribution the two made to the team.
Nonetheless, the match ended in a draw, and India managed to qualify for the World Test Championship final. Will we see the esteemed bowlers back in action at the WTF final? Well, tune in with us on 7th June to find out.
