Virat Kohli’s India break 71 years of pain, clinch series win in Australia for the first time

The rain and gloom, which had arrived on day 4, persisted even on day 5. For Virat Kohli and the Indian team, it did not matter. They were happily posing for the cameras. The entire first session was washed out. The umpires decided that they would meet the ground staff at 9:00 AM IST to determine whether play would be possible. At 9:02 AM IST, history was made. Play was called off. After seven decades of pain, Virat Kohli’s Indian cricket team etched their name in the history books as they became the first Indian team to win a series Down Under. With victories in Adelaide, Melbourne and a draw in Sydney, India won the four-Test series 2-1 to officially clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy outright.

The series result comes as a massive boost to the Indian team and it serves as a catalyst to end their overseas woes after losing 1-2 to South Africa and 1-4 to England. In both the series, India had missed out on capitalizing on key opportunities but in Australia, all their plans came to the fore. Kohli’s Indian cricket team achieved what previous Indian teams could not. All the pain suffered by legends like Vijay hazare, Vijay Merchant, Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman will now be erased as Kohli’s side create a new chapter.

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Kohli’s Indian side are the first Asian team to ever win a Test series Down Under, with Sri Lanka not winning a Test match while Pakistan have never won a series in Australia, with their last Test win coming 24 years ago. The magnitude of the win was not lost on Kohli, who was visibly emotional during the post-match presentation, rating it higher than the 2011 World Cup win.

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“By far, this is my biggest achievement. It's at the top of the pile. When we won the 2011 World Cup, I was the youngest member of the side. Saw everyone emotional there, but I didn't feel it. Here, after coming three times, this win means something else. The series win will give us a different identity, and what we've been able to achieve... something to be proud of,” Kohli said.

The series win in Australia has erased the pain of all the previous losses in the past. It is now up to Kohli and the Indian cricket team to sustain the new domination and conquer more frontiers in a year which has the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.