At WACA circket stadium at Perth, in a bouncy bitch,India had for the first time won a cricket test against hot favourites and champion side Australia,by 72 runs.It was a fantastic team effort.Every one of the Indian squad rallied to contribute his bit for the cause of victory and thereby stalled Australia from its 17 th winning streak.While India scored 330 runs in its first innings with very useful contributions from Dravid, 93 and Sachin with 71.Australia managed to score only 212 runs in its first innings thanks to a fine 4 wickets haul from our swing bowler R.P.Singh and 2 wickets each by Anil Kumble,Nishant Sharma,Irfan Pathan.
India managed to score 294 runs in the second innings thanks to a gritty 79 runs from V.V.S.Laxman,46 runs from Irfan Pathan, 43 runs from Sehwag,38 runs from Dhoni and 30 runs from R.P.Singh.Australia chasing a target of 413 runs was all out for 340 runs,despite of a fine 81 runs contribution from Micheal Clarke and 46 runs from the Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.
For his match winning all round performance,Irfan Pathan was declared ‘ man of the match’in the third cricket test.
It is heartening to note that India notable for its poor performance in bouncy Perth pitch managed to pull off a creditable victory over Australia holding their nerves on important occassions and proved themselves that Indians were not just pushovers.