The fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 Test match between India and Australia has ended in a draw at the Narendra Modi Stadium. With the pitch not producing enough wear and tear for Indian bowlers to trouble the Australian batters on the final day of the series, a lacklustre day primarily comprised Australian batters Travis Head (90) and Marnus Labuschagne (63*) scoring individual half-centuries.
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The development means that India have won the four-match series 2-1. In what is their fourth successive Test series win against Australia, it is needless to say that the home team has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
All in all, all the four matches were played in excellent spirit on the part of both the teams. A series lacking any sort of controversy between the players will be remembered solely for cricketing reasons.
India 🇮🇳 🤝🏻 Australia 🇦🇺
The final Test ends in a draw as #TeamIndia win the Border-Gavaskar series 2-1 🏆#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/dwwuLhQ1UT
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 13, 2023
Man of the Series IND vs AUS Test series 2023
In a rare decision for a Test series being played in India, the panel decided to announce two winners for the Player of the Series award. Hence, India all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared the trophy in Ahmedabad on Monday.
In what is Ashwin’s 10th (second-highest) such award in this format, Jadeja has only won it for the second time. While the former has been adjudged the Man of the Series in Test cricket after 15 months, the latter has managed to bag it after as many as six years. Co-incidentally, Jadeja’s previous such award had come during Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2017 (also at home).
Readers must note that Ashwin finished the series as its highest wicket-taker picking 25 wickets at an average and strike rate of 17.28 and 19.9 respectively. With the bat in hand, the right-handed batter’s 86 runs across five innings came at an average of 17.20.
Jadeja, on the contrary, dismissed 22 batters at an average of 18.86 and a strike rate of 43.9 to be the second-highest wicket-taker in BGT 2023. Having also batted five times during the course of the series, the left-handed batter scored 135 runs at 27.
