Cheteshwar Pujara put former England captain Michael Vaughan in an embarrassing position on Live TV before the start of the India vs England first Test match at Headingley in Leeds on Friday. Pujara presented Vaughan with a photo frame and requested his autograph on it in the pre-match show on Sony Sports Network. It was no ordinary gift. It was Vaughan's four-and-a-half-year-old tweet, predicting a 4-0 whitewash in Australia's favour when India toured Down Under in 2020-21.
With a sheepish grin on his face, Vaughan took the photo frame and signed it, even as Pujara and Sunil Gavaskar had a hearty laugh.
Vaughan had put out a tweet predicting India would be whitewashed by Australia after they lost the first Test in Adelaide after being bowled out for their lowest-ever Test total of 36 in the second innings. To be fair to Vaughan, he was perhaps not the only one predicting oneway traffic in favour of Australia in the remaining three Tests, especially knowing the fact that India's captain and best batter Virat Kohli would fly back home and remain unavailable for the remainder of the series due to the birth of his first child.
India vs England Live Score, Day 1, 1st Test
But India staged a fairytale comeback. It would not be an exaggeration if it were also described as a sporting miracle. They won the second Test in Melbourne courtesy a wonderful century from stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, drew the next Test in Sydney as Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin put their bodies on the line and finally breached the fortress Gabba thanks to terrific knocks Shardul Thakur, Washingtonn Sundar in the first innings and then by Pujara, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant in the runchase.
{{/usCountry}}But India staged a fairytale comeback. It would not be an exaggeration if it were also described as a sporting miracle. They won the second Test in Melbourne courtesy a wonderful century from stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, drew the next Test in Sydney as Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin put their bodies on the line and finally breached the fortress Gabba thanks to terrific knocks Shardul Thakur, Washingtonn Sundar in the first innings and then by Pujara, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant in the runchase.
{{/usCountry}}India became the first team to beat Australia in successive Test series in their own backyard. Pujara, who was the Player of the Series in 2018-19, once again returned as India's second-highest run-scorer in 2020-21 with 271 runs in four matches but the star for India was young keeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who scored 274 runs at an average of 68. With the ball, it was Mohammed Siraj (13) and Jasprit Bumrah (11) who shared 24 wickets between them to lead an inexperienced bowling attack, giving a torrid time to Australian batters.
This series win tasted sweeter than the previous one for a number of reasons. India missed a number of their key players due to injuries and personal reasons, while Australia had Steve Smith and David Warner at their disposal, who were not a part of the hosts' side two years ago due to the sanctions imposed on them for their involvement in the sandpapergate.