India surrender Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 years 

India's decade long domination of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy came to a grinding halt as Australia hammered the Jasprit Bumrah side by 6 wickets on Sunday, January 5. Playing on Day 3 of the final Test match in Sydney, India simply failed to contain the Australian batting line-up as the hosts chased down a target of 162 runs in just 27 overs.

Bumrah's incredible performance wasn't enough as India lost the series 1-3. His terrific tour of Australia came to an anti-climactic end as the fast bowler was not able to take the field in India's bowling innings on Day 3. The stand-in captain was forced out of action on the previous day due to back spasm and could not take even field in the final innings of the match.

In the absence of Bumrah, India bowled like headless chickens, spraying the ball everywhere. It was in stark contrast to how Scott Boland and Pat Cummins operated in the Test, especially on Day 3 morning to knock over the last four Indian wickets for just 16 runs.

Mohammed Siraj, who showed signs of returning to form on Day 2, today started off with 5-wides in his first over. Youngster Prasidh Krishna followed suit in the very next over, adding to India's misery.

Australia accepted the New Year's gift with open arms and got off to a rapid start - almost mimicking the powerplay in T20 cricket. Chasing 162 runs, Australia were 50/1 in 6 overs, which any team would have gleefully accepted even in T20 cricket, let alone Test.

The only pressure that India were able to realistically put was during a 3-over block by Prasidh Krishna, who was able to pick up wickets of Marnus Labuschange and Steve Smith just before Lunch.

Post Lunch, Australia once again came out looking to take the attack to India. Travis Head and Usman Khawaja deposited the Indian pacers for boundaries and took away hope of winning the Test match in no time. There was a slight skip in India's step after removing Khawaja for 41, but by that time the muted celebrations suggested that India had already accepted their fate in this series. Khawaja's departure did not deter Australia's resolve. Debutant Beau Webster, who scored a fifty in the first innings, showed no signs of nerves at all and combined their shot-making abilities with safety to take Australia over the mark with ease.

Since India's fateful tour of 2014/15, where then-captain MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket midway through the series, this was the first series that India lost against Australia. Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane India had dominated the competition over the past 10 years, winning memorable series both home and away.

India now knocked out of the World Test Championship final as Australia reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after 10 years,

Sunil Gavaskar Not Invited To Present Trophy

The legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Sunday expressed his displeasure after not being invited to present the trophy, named after him and Allan Border, to Australia following their win over India in the high-voltage five-match rubber. Border presented the trophy to the home team but Gavaskar, despite being at the venue, was inexplicably ignored. "I certainly would have loved to have been there for the presentation. After all it is the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and it is about Australia and India," Gavaskar was quoted as saying by Code Sports.

"I mean, I am here on the ground. To me it should not matter that Australia won when it comes to the presentation. They played better cricket so they won. That's fine. "Just because I am an Indian. I would have been happy to present the trophy with my good friend Allan Border," he added. Cricket Australia (CA) later confirmed that Gavaskar was aware he would have presented the award to Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah if the tourists had won the Sydney Test and retained the trophy. "We acknowledge it would have been preferable if both Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar had been asked to go on stage," a CA spokesperson said in a statement.