For the first time since the tournament's establishment, Team India will not advance to the World Test Championship final after losing to Australia by six wickets in the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Sunday. After ten years, Australia finally won the series with a 3-1 victory, guaranteeing their spot in the final against South Africa. Australia, who defeated India in the 2023 title match, will be playing in their second consecutive final.
At the SCG, India's batting problems reappeared when they were dismissed for a minimal 185 in the first innings and managed just 157 in the second. Australia was dismissed for 181 in the first innings thanks to a heroic effort with the ball, but Jasprit Bumrah's absence in the second proved to be costly.
Due to a back spasm, Bumrah, who had been captaining the team in the last Test as a stand-in, was unable to play, leaving India's bowling attack weak. The Australians took advantage of the situation and, on the last day in Sydney, reached their objective with six wickets remaining.
On Day 3, India resumed at 141-6, hoping to increase their advantage of 145 runs, but Australia took control immediately. Early on, Pat Cummins (3/44) dismissed Washington Sundar for 12 and Ravindra Jadeja for 13, bringing India down to 157-8.
Although Bumrah showed up to bat, his time there was brief as Scott Boland quickly took two wickets, including Bumrah's, and destroyed the tail. Boland, who replaced the injured Josh Hazlewood for the second straight Test match, concluded with impressive figures of 6/45 and claimed 10 wickets.
Australia's run-chase got off to an exciting start, with Sam Konstas spearheading the attack. However, Konstas had played one shot too many and was removed by Prasidh Krishna, who top-edged a delivery that Washington Sundar grabbed at cover.
India had a chance as the Australians faltered early on and lost Steve Smith (4) and Marnus Labuschagne (6) cheaply. However, Usman Khawaja (41) kept things in check and led Australia to their first Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph since the 2014–15 series with Travis Head and Beau Webster.
