Six weeks before Brisbane, India had been bowled out for 36 at Adelaide, the lowest total in their Test history. Their captain, Virat Kohli, flew home for the birth of his daughter. By the fourth Test their first-choice bowling attack had been injured one by one: Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hanuma Vihari. The side that took the field at the Gabba on 15 January 2021 had a bowling attack with four Test caps between them. Australia had not lost a Test at the Gabba since 1988.
The reserves
Ajinkya Rahane, the stand-in captain, had already levelled the series at Melbourne with a century. In Sydney, Vihari and Ashwin had batted injured for 43 overs to save the third Test. Now Rahane named a side with Mohammed Siraj, playing his third Test, as the senior bowler, and two debutants, Washington Sundar and T. Natarajan, who had come to Australia as a net bowler. Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini completed the attack.
Australia made 369, with Marnus Labuschagne scoring 108. India replied with 336, and the heart of it was a seventh-wicket stand of 123 between Thakur, who made 67, and Washington, who made 62 on debut, pulling Pat Cummins for six. Siraj then took 5 for 73 in Australia's second innings, two of the wickets in one over, and the hosts were bowled out for 294. India needed 328 on the final day, on a pitch with cracks and a bowling attack of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.
The final day
Rohit Sharma went early. Shubman Gill, 21 years old and in his third Test, made 91, pulling and driving the fast bowlers in a way nobody had expected. Cheteshwar Pujara was hit on the body eleven times, on the helmet, the fingers and the ribs, and made 56 from 211 balls without stepping away once. When he fell, Rishabh Pant, who had been dropped for the first Test of the series, came in and attacked.
Pant made 89 not out from 138 balls. He charged Lyon, reverse-swept, and with the light fading and three overs left, drove Hazlewood through mid-off for four. India had won by three wickets. Rahane's team had won the series 2-1 and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and the players ran onto the ground in a line, Natarajan and Washington among them, carrying the flag.
Why it matters
Brisbane 2021 is the clearest argument ever made for the depth of Indian cricket. A second-string attack and a young batting line-up beat the best team in the world on their most feared ground, from 36 all out, without their captain. Nothing in the record books looks like it, and nothing before it had suggested India could do it.
