New Delhi: Australia’s hopes of conquering the final frontier are over after being crushed by India’s ruthless spin sensations Ravi Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin for the second time in a week.
India will retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the fourth straight time after winning the second Test in Delhi by six wickets to take an unbeatable 2-0 advantage in the four-match series.
After losing in less than three days in the series opener in Nagpur, Australia suffered another collapse in their second innings to set India on path to a comfortable win.
On a rapidly deteriorating day-three pitch at Arun Jaitley Stadium, India had little trouble reaching the 115-run target as Cheteshwar Pujara (31 not out) hit the winning runs in his 100th Test.
India remain unbeaten in Tests at their fortress in the nation’s capital since 1987.
After flying to India full of confidence they could claim the Border-Gavaskar trophy away for the first time since 2004, Australia’s tour has imploded in less than six days of cricket.
Since an Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting-led side saluted in India 19 years ago, Australia have won just one – at Pune in 2017 – out of 16 Tests they have contested in the country.
Despite being the world’s No 1 ranked Test team, Australia are still not assured of reaching the World Test Championship final in June if they lose this series 4-0 and other results go against them.
Australia’s hopes of securing the trophy went up in flames during a chaotic 90 minutes of batting on Sunday as Jadeja – with a career-best 7-42 – and Ashwin (3-59) ran riot.
After starting day three in Delhi with a 62-run lead with nine wickets in hand, Australia looked on track to build a match-winning advantage in seeking to level the series at 1-1.
But Jadeja and Ashwin quickly went about destroying the Australian line-up, unleashing carnage similar to that seen in the first Test in Nagpur.
Australia went from 61-1 overnight to all-out for 113 in less than a session, setting India a target of just 115 to win.
After appearing to be managing the tricky conditions at 85-2, the tourists lost 8-28 in one of the worst collapses by an Australian Test team.
Australia lost 4-0 in 11 balls to crash from 95-3 to 95-7 in a devastating period before drinks on Sunday morning.
The tourists lost three wickets in as many balls – one to Ashwin and two to Jadeja – when Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb and captain Pat Cummins were unable to contain India’s spinning brilliance.
Handscomb got an unplayable delivery from Jadeja, but Cummins’ shot was a wild, Twenty20-like swing to a ball that smashed into his stumps.
Given his first opportunity to open in Test cricket after David Warner was subbed out with concussion on Saturday, Travis Head (43) added just four to his overnight score before he was out to Ashwin on the last ball of the first over.
Marnus Labuschagne (35) and Steve Smith appeared steady at the crease for a short period, but once the latter fell, Australia crumbled on a rapidly deteriorating pitch.
