Criconline

Second time unlucky 17th for Aussies

15th March 2001: India ends Australia’s 16 consecutive Test wins chain in Kolkata.

19th January 2008: India ends Australia’s 16 consecutive Test wins chain in Perth.

History repeated itself and India scripted a sweet revenge over Australia in the Perth Test. This victory would be even sweeter for the Indian team since this comes right on the backdrop of the eventful Sydney Test and the subsequent events off the pitch and moreso as the Aussies lost in what was considered as their den at the WACA.

Here 2 records are worth mentioning. One, the last time Australia had lost a Test match at home was way back in 2003 and that too against India at Adelaide. And secondly, Australia lost at Perth for the first time since 1997.

Nobody would have expected India to beat Australia in Perth but India did just that.

The win can be credited to some lovely innings by Sachin Tendulkar & Rahul Dravid in the first innings, some wonderful batting by VVS Laxman in the second innings which justifies his Very Very Special status especially against the Aussies, an all round performance by comeback man Irfan Pathan, and a special spell by another comeback man Virendar Sehwag which mirrored Michael Clarke’s dream performance with the ball in the Sydney Test.

And maybe ….. can we say… because this time Aussies didn’t get any undue one-sided support from the umpires!!