India clinched the prestigious Border-Gavaskar trophy by defeating the world champions by 172 runs in the final Test in Nagpur. Chasing a massive victory target of 382, the Australians were wrapped up at 209 runs. The Aussies started the fifth day with 13 for no loss and reached the total of 111-2 at lunch. After that Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra displayed their spin magic and cleared the Australian line up at 209 runs. Harbhajan Singh took 4 wickets for 64 runs while Amit Mishra claimed 3 for 27.

 

Matthew Hayden (77) and Cameron White who remained unbeaten on 27 runs tired to rescue team Australia but could not withstand the unplayable deliveries of Indian spinners on a fifth-day wicket. The Australians were desperate to win the match which could enable them to level the series. All the batsmen were in attacking mood and determined to go for big shots. In order to show excessive aggression, Australian captain Ricky Ponting got run-out after facing only six balls.  

 

Simon Katich also succumbed to positive stroke play while trying to clear off an Ishant Sharma delivery. Ailing Michael Clarke contributed 22 runs before getting out to Sharma. Matthew Hayden got two lives before getting out to a quicker, flatter delivery from Harbhajan. The final bolt in the coffin was placed by the Harbhajan when his spinning delivery got the pads of Mitchell Johnson.

  

Before the star of the Nagpur test, India was leading the series by 1-0. With this victory India wins the Border-Gavaskar series by 2-0. It is the first time that Australia has lost a Test series by more than one match since they were trounced by West Indies in 1988-89.