Australia record historic win in Sydney to claim Border-Gavaskar Trophy in explosive series

Australia have reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade after winning the series 3-1 with a six-wicket victory at the SCG.

Set 166 to win in the final innings, Usman Khawaja gave chase with a stylish 41 before Travis Head (34 not out) and Beau Webster (39no) finished the job before tea on day three.

The Australian series win comes after they were defeated by India in the opener in Perth, before victories in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney sealed the triumph.

For the Australian team, a series win over India was considered the final frontier, with mainstays Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, Khawaja and Head among those who had never won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in their impressive careers.

That trophy seemed like a dream after a 295-run loss in the series opener in Perth, but only bad weather in Brisbane prevented Australia from claiming wins in all four Test matches that followed.

But all Australia’s good work was in danger of being derailed by defeat at the SCG, where defeat would have leveled the series at 2-2 and kept the trophy in India’s hands for the fifth consecutive series.

Travis Head (34 not out) and Beau Webster (39 no) got the job done before tea

In reply to India’s second innings of 157, Australian openers Sam Konstas (22) and Khawaja scored 39 in the first 23 balls before the pacey Prasidh Krishna (3-27) spearheaded India’s fightback and left the hosts in danger at 3-58.

Khawaja showed positive intent after lunch, punishing both Prasidh and Mohammad Siraj as India’s pacey superstar Jasprit Bumrah watched from the pavilion with a back problem.

But India would have felt a renewed confidence after veteran wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant picked out Siraj’s bowling just before his second half-century of an uneventful series.

From there, all-rounder Webster continued his stellar Test debut by putting on a game-winning partnership of 58 runs with serial swashbuckler Head.

Webster hit the winning runs just over an hour after the lunch break and Australia finished at 4-162.

The win confirms Australia’s place in the final of the World Test Championship, to be played against South Africa at Lord’s in June.

The win confirms Australia’s place in the final of the World Test Championship

A dramatic two-and-a-half days of cricket in Sydney saw Rohit Sharma suspended as India captain, Sam Konstas continuing to rile up the tourists, India’s best player Bumrah suffering a match-ending back injury and Steve Smith scoring one point. shy of 10,000 for his Test career.

Through it all, back-up paceman Scott Boland stood tallest, with the best match figures of his first-class career (10-76) and his two best innings (4-31 and 6-45) since his dream Test debut at the MCG three summers ago .

Boland sent on Siraj and Bumrah to complete his six-wicket haul and help India (185, 157) bowl within 45 minutes of Sunday’s restart.

The Australian batting order (181, 4-162) sealed the result in reply to secure the 3-1 series win.