India finally wins  2-1 after a hard fought series against gallant Australia

Finally India shows their all round strengths and wins the series. Australia winning the toss at the beautiful Dharamshala were 131/1 at lunch with their captain motoring along. However the Indian think tank made a big call after Virat Kohli was out of the game with his shoulder injury...instead to taking a batsman they went ahead with unknown chinaman Kuldip Yadav...& kudos to standin captain Ajinkha Rahane for introducing Kuldip ahead of Jadeja-Ashwin when Aussies were romping away...Kuldip started to rip in his chinaman variations to telling effect in post lunch session to take 4 wkts(Ashwin accounting for Smith for 111) & ripped out Warner, Handscomb,Marsh & Maxwell in a match & series turning post lunch session & aussies were 208/6 & their core batting back in the hut. Wade's strong effort (57) took aussies to 300..but the great chance to bat India out of the match was gone on the best pitch of the test series.

India looked all poised to take a big 1st innings lead till tea on 2nd day until Nathan Lyon using the bounce of the wicket suddenly put pressure on the Indian middle order and reduced them to 225/6 after Rahul & Pujara hit half centuries..Then came the big moment of the match when Matt Renshaw in slips dropped a sitter of a fast & hostile but unlucky Pat Cummins to give Saha a reprieve which proved very costly for the Aussies as on next day Jadeja(63) with Saha(31) added invaluable 96 runs for the 7th wkt to give India a 32-run 1st innings lead....enough for a hostile Umesh Yadav with Bhubaneswar Kumar to strangle aussies to 32/3 in 2nd innings...Renshaw & Warner copped some serious chin music before being dismissed & Kumar knocking over Smith's off stump after conceding 2 boundaries...then the big boys Ashwin & Jadeja stepped in & spun out Australia for 137 in 2nd innings..leaving India to make 105 to win on a pitch still playable...& India duly knocked off the runs to win by 8 wkts & end a highly contested series.

While this series had seen some great on field cricket , off the field there were plenty of happenings ..with Smith getting away without been banned after trying to take dressing room support for review in Bangaluru..and Virat Kohli's continued on the field antics & off the field comments causing lot of bad blood with Aussie media & team  & comments & tweets were flowing thick & fast from Himalayas to Down Under & viceversa.  Kohli should be more sensible before making such comments which are bound to generate media attention..& helps the media to sell more copies but these are not helping Indian cricket at all...Virat should reflect on this & concentrate on his batting & fitness more.

By contrast Smith was more understanding & even apologised for his wrong doings after the series which was good. Rahane in the 1 match that he captained looked unflappable & made right moves...great sign for India.

India was widely expected to win the series but they had to struggled against a spirited Australian side...KL Rahul,Pujara, the spinners , keeper Saha & Umesh were standouts for India in this series.Jadeja deserved Man of the Series award...For Aussies Renshaw showed great promise but needs to be more tighter around offstump..Handscomb looked good without getting big scores..Warner has to find a way to perform well in the subcontinent - he was all at sea..Bowlers all had their moments..Lyon was very good....& Cummins playing his 1st test after 6 years bowled 77 overs in this series proving his fitness..bowled at great pace, was very hostile but unlucky as catches went down off his bowling...Aussies did miss Starc however-both his bowling & late order batting in last 2 tests...but with Cummins fit with Starc, Hazlewood & Pattinson (doing currently very well in Sheffield Shield) they will in all likelihood field a formidable pace attack come the Ashes 2017-18....but Australia's best was offcourse Steve Smith- 3 tons on difficult pitches..some glorious batting this..he should have been joint Man of the series with Jadeja...The aussie skipper performed outstandingly in this series & helped his side to fight very hard against all odds.

Australia's weak lower order batting & their inability to drive home the advantage on more than 1 occasion ,not been able to bat India out after dismissing them at 189 at Bangaluru & again failing to score 550 plus after batting 1st at Ranchi & Dharamshala proved costly..they had some good chances to win this series but could not take them when it mattered..