Once again it came down to the wire at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the final session of the final test match like the previous ones in the series. And 
once again it was India’s batting versus the Australian bowling. It was India fighting till the end to save the test match and Australia pushing hard for a win. This time also like in Melbourne India managed to play out the whole day and save the test match. And the credit goes to Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. Also Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar gave great support to Rahane and prevented India from losing it 3-0.
Australia declared on their overnight score of 251/6 and set India a target of 349 in 90 overs to make it 2-1 in the series. It was cautious start from India as Lokesh Rahul and Murali Vijay looked set in the middle. India played the new ball reasonably well as the Aussie pacers failed to break the opening partnership. It was Nathan Lyon who broke the partnership by picking up Rahul (16) with India having scored 48 runs. Rohit Sharma and Vijay then ensured that India did not lose any wicket in the first session. In the second session as well India batted with confidence. Rohit Sharma was the only man who got out on personal score of 39 when Steve Smith took a sensational catch standing at the second slip after Rohit had fended a ball away from the body.
In the final session India needed almost 200 runs with 33 overs and 8 wickets remaining in hand. India came out positively but the fall of Murali Vijay (80) and Virat Kohli, few moments after Vijay’s dismissal, made things tough for India. Suresh Raina and Wriddhiman Saha failed to score a single run and it was up to Ajinkya Rahane and the tail-enders to save the match. How quickly things changes! India was looking for a win and the loss of Vijay and Kohli turned it around completely. This shows what kind of impact these two have had throughout the test series. But one good thing that happened was that Rahane was still there in the middle. And when it came down to just playing out the balls, Ashwin and Kumar did give Rahane a great support. Ashwin scored just 1 but played out 22 crucial deliveries. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar stayed till the end and made sure that there was no more wobble from India in the middle. It was a pitch that was doing everything- one was bouncing up, one was keeping low, one turned square, one didn’t. And the kind of show that India’s batting have put up they did not deserve to lose. The draw was just the perfect result.
Coming to the end of the series, it will be recorded as yet another defeat for India away from home. But it could have been much different. Had 
Wriddhiman Saha not played that rash shot in Adelaide; had India got the wicket of Mitchell Johnson early on the third day of the second test; it could have been very very different. But that’s the way cricket pans out. Australia were the deserved winners. And Steve Smith the perfect choice for the Man-of-the-series tournament. Yes Virat Kohli too has scored 4 centuries, but may be few match-winning catches had given Smith the upperhand. But there were lots of positives for India that can be taken from the series, especially as a batting unit. India still needs lots of improvement in the bowling department. But overall India lost the test series but they were never beaten out rightly.
