Australia needed just over an hour in the first session on the final day to pick up the remaining five Indian wickets and seal a 146-run win in the second Test in Perth.
Chasing 287, India had lost half the battle on the fourth afternoon when Virat Kohli was dismissed for 17 by Nathan Lyon. Besides, the loss of Cheteshwar Pujara and Akinkya Rahane meant it was only a matter of time before Australia romped home to their first Test win since March 2018.
India skipper Virat Kohli was the major highlight of the match after his gutsy hundred in the first innings. His controversial dismissal was then the big talking point before focus shifted to his verbal wars with Paine. But all the animation and excitement Kohli showed during the course of the match gave away to a dejected persona after India crashed to their seventh away Test defeat this year.
“[Our bowlers] are outstanding as a pack, to see them dominate was really good to see and something we want to build on. They are relentless even if they aren’t getting wickets which is a great quality.
“When we looked at the pitch we didn’t think about [Jadeja] but I thought Nathan bowled really well. We never thought we wanted to consider a spinner, thought four fast bowlers would be enough,” Kohli added.
However, the one thing Kohli did not want to talk about was his 123. He became the second fastest to 25 Test hundreds after Don Bradman but Kohli said it was irrelevant because India had lost.
“When you don’t win you don’t really rank your performances so it’s irrelevant because we didn’t get the result we wanted. I’m just focused on the next Test,” the 30-year-old said.
The win was also Australia’s first since the ball-tampering scandal in the Cape Town Test earlier this year and Tim Paine’s first as captain since succeeding Steve Smith, who is serving a one-year ban for his involvement in the unfortunate incident against South Africa.
