India defeated Australia by 137 runs in the third Test on Sunday. Along with that he went ahead 2-1 in the four-match series. Team India has taken 2-1 lead in a Test series after 40 years in Australia. Earlier, it was happened in 1977-78 when it had a 2-1 lead in the series. However, later India lost the series 2-3. For India, Jasprit Bumrah picked nine wickets in the match. Earlier this morning due to rain, first session was washed out and match began after lunch and retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
India’s 3rd Win at Melbourne Cricket Ground
This was India’s 3rd Win at MCG, Earlier India have won in 1977 and 1981.
India won by 222 runs in 1977
Sunil Gavaskar scored brilliant 118 in the second innings and rest was done by spin duo of B S Chandrasekhar and Bishen Singh Bedi who took six and four wickets respectively to bundle out Australia for 164 runs. Chandrasekhar had a 12-wicket haul in the match.
Brief Scores: India – 256 and 343; Australia – 213 and 164
India won by 59 runs in 1981
Allan Border and Gundappa Viswanath scored hundreds, Australia needed just 143 to win. But the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev proved the key difference between the two sides as Kapil Dev cleaned up the Australian tail. As India bowled Australia out for 83 in the fourth innings and won the match by 59 runs
Brief Scores: India – 237 and 324; Australia – 419 and 83.
Overall India have played 12 Test Matches at Melbourne Cricket Ground won 3 and lost 7 and two of them are draw
List of INDvAUS Test Matches at MCG
| Date | Teams | Venue | Result |
| 1-5 Jan 1948 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by 233 runs |
| 30 Dec 1967-3 Jan 1968 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by an innings and 4 runs |
| 30 Dec 1977-4 Jan 1978 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | IND won by 222 runs |
| 7-11 Feb 1981 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | IND won by 59 runs |
| 26-30 Dec 1985 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | Match Drawn |
| 26-29 Dec 1991 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by 8 wkts |
| 26-30 Dec 1999 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by 180 runs |
| 26-30 Dec 2003 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by 9 wkts |
| 26-29 Dec 2007 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by 337 runs |
| 26-29 Dec 2011 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | AUS won by 122 runs |
| 26-30 Dec 2014 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | Match Drawn |
| 26-30 Dec 2018 | Ind vs AUS | Melbourne | IND won by 137 runs |
Virat Kohli equalled record of Sourav Ganguly
Virat Kohli has added another accomplishment to his tally as he equalled Sourav Ganguly’s record of registering most wins in overseas in Test cricket. Both Kohli and Ganguly are tied with 11 wins each, but the former achieved that in 24 Tests whereas the latter completed it in 28 games.
Most Overseas Wins by an Indian Captain
| Captain | M | W | L | D |
| Sourav Ganguly | 28 | 11 | 10 | 7 |
| Virat Kohli | 24 | 11 | 9 | 4 |
| MS Dhoni | 30 | 6 | 15 | 9 |
| Rahul Dravid | 17 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
In this match, India won the toss and decided to bat. India declared thefirst innings with 443 runs on the board for loss of seven wickets. Australia could only make 151 runs in the first innings. However, India did not enforced follow on and decided to bat.
And declared their second innings on 106 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Australia got the target of 399 runs to win, but their whole team returned to pavilion by scoring 261 in 89.3 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah was selected player of the match for picking 9 wickets in the match. Last Test match of the series will be played at Sydney from 3rd Jan 2019 and India definitely will look to start New Year with the win.
