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#INDvAUS 4th Test: Game changers

India’s 2-1 series win over Australia was not due to one or two performers but a collective effort despite Virat Kohli’s failures

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India captain Virat Kohli (C), Ravindra Jadeja (L) and Umesh Yadav during the presentation ceremony in Dharamsala on Tuesday
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The highly-anticipated series between India and Australia has come to an exciting end. Virat Kohli & his boys walked away with the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The four-Test series had all the ingredients that showed why Test cricket is the best and purest form of entertainment.

From being 0-1 down in Pune, India fought back dramatically well in the second Test in Bengaluru to make it 1-1 before drawing in Ranchi and clinching it in Dharamshala.
All in all, it was an edge-of-the-seat series and no individual can take the credit for being the match winner. Rather, it was a team effort shown by the bunch of daring boys that forced the confident Aussies to bow down.

DNA takes a stock of the performances that played key roles in India's triumph and the game changers who made the difference.

WHO DARES CAPTAIN VIRAT?

No one messes with India captain Virat Kohli. If one does, they have to face the music. The skipper may have failed with the bat in this series but he led from the front, be it on the field with his aggressive strategies or off the field with serious banters. Australia captain Steve Smith dared to take on the Delhi lad with the 'brain fade' moment in Bengaluru when he looked towards his dressing room for help with DRS. Kohli's sharp eye did not miss it, and he held himself back from calling the Australian a cheat. From then on, the Aussies have been after the Indian skipper. If Glenn Maxwell mocked Kohli's injured shoulder in Ranchi, Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland accused the Indian captain of not knowing how to spell 'sorry'. Amidst all this, Kohli stood like a rock, faced all the barbs and gave a fitting reply to every bit before emerging triumphant at the end. In the end, the Aussies lost an opportunity to befriend the most powerful man on cricket field.

JADEJA'S ALL-ROUND SHOW

From being an ordinary player, someone who can bat as well as bowl a bit, Ravindra Jadeja has really come a long way. The left-arm spinner from Saurashtra has been living under the shadows of off-spinner R Ashwin ever since he made his Test comeback in 2015 against South Africa. His role has been to check the run flow while his partner attacks. But this series, one may not call it a revelation, Jadeja has come on his own. Often criticised for his unorthodox style of bowling, it was the same that fetched Jadeja the wickets and India series. It may have happened for the first time where Ashwin lived under Jadeja's shadow. Ask David Warner and he will tell you how many sleepless nights the left-arm spinner has given him. It wasn't just with the ball, but the southpaw also chipped in with the bat in the last two games, playing in his attacking style.

THE REST DOES, IF NOT HEAD OF THE SNAKE

So, the Australians thought if they got the 'head of the snake' Kohli (46 runs in 3 matches), they would have got the whole team. But it was not so. This may be the one odd series where the Indian captain might have failed to fire, but it didn't affect the team much. While Kohli struggled to get runs, the other batsmen filled in the void with some timely knocks that saw the team stay at the top of the Aussies most of the times after that one bad Pune Test. Be it opener KL Rahul (393 runs, 6x50), Cheteshwar Pujara (405, 1x100, 2x50), Wriddhiman Saha (174, 1x100), Ajinkya Rahane (198, 1x50), Ravindra Jadeja (127, 2x50) or Murali Vijay (113, 1x50), all contributed to the team's cause.

YADAV, FIND OF THE SEASON

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said Umesh Yadav is the find of the season. It may sound strange for someone who made his Test more than six years back, but in reality the fast bowler from Nagpur has finally discovered his mojo. He showed glimpses of his maturity against New Zealand and then England before unleashing himself against the Australians from the Pune Test itself. He was simply unplayable. His ability to reverse and knock those stumps off was known, but how much he has improved as a new ball bowler was only revealed in Dharamshala. Those spells in Dharamshala on a bouncy green track showed how dangerous he is with the shiny cherry. The hostile pace bowling from Yadav will certainly haunt the two Australians openers – David Warner and Matt Renshaw for long.

CHINAMAN SURPRISE FOR OZ

This has been touted as a masterstroke from the Team India think tank. Many would have thought that if Virat Kohli is unfit, captain Ajinkya Rahane would go for a like-for-like replacement in Shreyas Iyer. But kudos to the Mumbai lad, who was brave enough to go with five bowlers with the third being a spinner — Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav — on seamer-friendly wicket. And, the plan worked brilliantly. The UP bowler made the Aussie batsmen dance to his tunes with his subtle variations. It wasn't just his unconventional bowling that worked for India, but a consistent line and length saw him fetch success on his debut. His first three wickets of David Warner, Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell were peach of a delivery that turned the tide for India. From being 144/2, the Aussies were folded up for 300 in the first innings, paving the way for India's win.

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