Sydney: By sealing the T20 International series on Sunday, Virat Kohli became the first Indian and Asian captain to win a series in all three formats against Australia in Australia.
Kohli had led India to a 2-1 win in the 2018-19 Test series and followed that up with a 2-1 win in the ODI series.
While India had drawn the T20 series on that last tour, they managed to clinch it this time by winning the first two matches. The third match takes place on Tuesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
India had won a T20 series in 2016, when MS Dhoni’s side won it 3-0. Dhoni had also led India to a triangular series win in Australia in 2007-08 season.
Dhoni, however, was a failure in Tests. He presided over a 4-0 Test series thrashing India got in Australia in 2011-12. He also lost the ODI series 4-1 in 2015-16. Dhoni also jointly led the Indian side in the 2014-15 series where India lost 2-0.
Prior to the 2007-08 season when India won the tri-series for the first time under Dhoni, none of the touring Indian teams had won any series in Australia.
While India have managed to win series in Australia in all formats, none of the other three top Asian Test playing nations — Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh have won a series in the longest format Down Under.
‘I actually thought Natarajan would be given the Man of the Match award, but it has become a batsman’s game now, our bowlers did concede runs at high rates, but Natarajan managed to put a brake on Australia’s batsmen. The 10-15 extra runs that Natarajan did not concede, were the difference according to me. Australia got a good start, and where they ended, I told my teammates that they were 10-15 runs short,’ said Hardik Pandya during the post-match press conference after second T20.
‘I am so impressed with Natarajan as he likes to keep things simple and I like players who like to keep it simple. If you tell Natarajan that he needs to bowl a yorker, he will bowl a yorker. When you ask him to bowl wider off the stumps, he will do that. It is a learning for people that you will benefit if you keep things simple,’ he added.