India's clean sweep of victories in Tests

#3 India vs Australia 4-0, 2012/13

MS Dhoni accepts the Border-Gavaskar trophy from the legends themselves in 2012/13

India completely outplayed the mighty Aussies in four test matches at home as the Indian batsmen and spinners came to the party in a big way. There was criticism from people around the world with regard to the turning wickets that were prepared.

Hometown boy Ashwin spun a web around the Aussies as India went on to win the first test at Chennai by 8 wickets. Australia managed to score 380 in the first innings, riding on captain Michael Clarke’s 130, as Ashwin picked 7 wickets. The Indians batted the Australians out of the game as Kohli (107) and captain MS Dhoni (224) helped the team to a 192-run lead.

The Aussies struggled against the Indian spinners once again in the second innings as Ashwin, Jadeja and Harbhajan cleaned up the visitors, leaving India with a target of 50 which they chased down with 8 wickets to spare. Ashwin finished the match with 12 wickets but MSD was awarded the Man of the Match for his match-winning double century.

Clarke (91) again was the only beacon of hope for the Aussies as the Indian bowlers made light work of the visitors, dismissing them for 237 in the second match at Hyderabad. What followed was some high-class test batsmanship by Indian batsmen Murali Vijay (147) and Cheteshwar Pujara (204) as India amassed 503 in their first innings.

Ashwin ran through the Kangaroos on his way to another 5-wicket haul as they were bowled out for 131, leading to an Indian victory by an innings and 135 runs. Pujara was adjudged Man of the Match as he played an innings that would have made a certain former Indian No.3 batsman proud.

In the build-up to the third Test in Mohali, four players from the Australian squad were ruled out of contention by coach Mickey Arthur, as Shane Watson, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Johnson and James Pattinson failed to complete a task assigned by the coach.

“That was a line-in-the-sand moment”, said the South African as he sent out a strong message to his players regarding violation of team protocol. Senior statesman Watson left the tour and headed back to Australia shortly after, with a question mark surrounding his future in this Australian Test team.

But the Test will be remembered by fans for Shikhar Dhawan’s explosive Test debut as he scored a better than run-a-ball 187 along with Vijay (157), as India took a 91-run lead after Australia had managed to score 408.

The Indian bowlers made sure the visitors didn’t set a huge target as their combined efforts meant India were left with 133 runs to chase. And chase they did! After a few hiccups, the Indians won the match with 6 wickets remaining, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

It was another rank turner on offer at the Feroz Shah Kotla for the final Test as India restricted the Aussies to 262 following another fifer for Ashwin. The Australian bowlers also came to the party as off-spinner Nathan Lyon picked up 7 scalps giving India just a 10-run first innings lead.

After Ashwin, it was his partner Ravindra Jadeja’s turn to torment the Aussies with a 5-wicket haul of his own. India chased down the 155-run target for the loss of 4 wickets with Pujara scoring an unbeaten 82.

Jadeja’s 7 wickets in the match earned him a Man of the Match award, while Ashwin was awarded the Man of the Series trophy.

Whitewash in Series with 2 Tests or less

Opponent	Home/Away	Year	Margin	Man of the Series
Bangladesh	Away	2000/01	1-0 (1)	Sunil Joshi
Zimbabwe	Home	2001/02	2-0 (2)	Anil Kumble
Bangladesh	Away	2004/05	2-0 (2)	Irfan Pathan
Zimbabwe	Away	2005	2-0 (2)	Irfan Pathan
Bangladesh	Away	2009/10	2-0 (2)	Zaheer Khan
Australia	Home	2010/11	2-0 (2)	Sachin Tendulkar
New Zealand	Home	2012	2-0 (2)	Ravichandran Ashwin
West Indies	Home	2013/14	2-0 (2)	Rohit Sharma