Indian captain Rohit Sharma has compared India’s seven-wicket win at the Sahara Park Newlands in Cape Town with their three-wicket win against Australia at the Gabba in 2021. Rohit stated that the Indian team were able to record its first Test win in Cape Town after 31 long years. The Indian team had played six Tests before at Newlands but had lost four games whereas two matches ended in a draw.
The 2021 Australian tour was one of the toughest Test series that the Indian team would have ever played. Having been blown away for 36 runs in Adelaide and then winning the series 2-1 with a third strength was commendable.
The Indian team lost the first Test match by eight wickets in Adelaide and also lost the team’s captain Virat Kohli as he headed back to India due to paternity leave. Team India created history under Ajinkya Rahane and won the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne by eight wickets.
However, there were many challenges for India as well, as they lost many key players such as Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and R Ashwin after the Sydney Test which ended in a draw. The draw was also a very memorable aspect of the series as the Indian team batted for two long days and survived the Test match.
However, the history was created in Brisbane during the fourth Test when, the Indian team played without the likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin, and Mohammed Shami. It was an absolute second-strength team with a totally new bowling attack. Even net bowler T Natarajan was handed over Test debut in the Brisbane Test.
The Australian team had never lost a Test match in Brisbane in the last 32 years and it looked like it would be an easy job for them to beat India and also take the series. However, the Indian team defied all the odds and came out victorious by three wickets in Brisbane courtesy of a special knock by Rishabh Pant.
Rohit Sharma puts ‘Gabba’ and ‘Cape Town’ wins together
Rohit Sharma lablled the win as one of the best victories ever in the history of Indian cricket. He compared it with the iconic Gabba Test win against Australia during the 2020-21 tour.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma said after the Cape Town Test, “It’ll be one of our best Test match victories. Having not won here in Cape Town [before], obviously this puts it right up there with all the victories that we’ve had. It’s very hard to compare the Test matches that you play because every Test match has its own importance and own relevance. The Test match that we won at The Gabba as well. The last test match that was lost by Australia in Brisbane was in 1988, I think. Nearly after 23, 24 years [32 years] we won the Test match there. It kind of became like their fortress. They never lose a test match there.”
“And the way we won that Test match as well was quite important. From where we came, we were 1-nil down, we won in Melbourne and then we drew the Test match in Sydney and then won in Brisbane. So you can’t really rank the Test matches, but this has to be right up there because we had not won here. That shows how important a venue this is for us to come here and perform. I give a lot of credit to our team to put up a performance like that and win the game.”
India are scheduled to play against Afghanistan from January 11 in a three-match T20I series after the South African tour.