India vs Australia in 2022-23

Test matches (4): India 2 (28pts), Australia 1 (16pts)
One-day internationals (3): India 1, Australia 2

Marnus Labuschagne was beginning to get restless. He still had his pads on, and was mid-radio interview. But he was impatient to join Virat Kohli and his senior Australian team-mates, who were in affable conversation. A highly anticipated series had finished with Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara - two part-time part-timers - bowling to the world's two top-ranked batsmen, Labuschagne and Steve Smith, reflecting the drab nature of the pitch for the Fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

The convivial post-match congregation typified the friendliest encounter between these teams in decades - vastly different from Australia's previous tour, six years earlier, when the Indians turned down a drink after an ill-tempered series. The bonhomie at the Narendra Modi Stadium had been witnessed repeatedly over the preceding five weeks, with Kohli leading the way. In 2017, he had declared he had no friends left in the Australian camp. Now, he was rekindling mateships and sparking a few more, and perhaps had as many between-overs chats with Nathan Lyon or Usman Khawaja as he did with his own batting partners.

If anything, it was the surfaces for the first three Tests that seemed volatile, resulting in matches played in fast-forward. If you were at the crease, it was a question of kill or be killed, and led to batters from both teams rallying round each other, as if part of a victim-support group. The cricket only intermittently matched the pre-series hype. And although the final scoreline was the same as the three previous meetings between these nations - India winning 2-1, to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy - this one failed to reach the same heights.

The ingredients for another classic were there, but never blended. There was no tricky run-chase, no dramatic battle for survival. Nor was there a major plot twist of the kind India and Australia have a habit of producing. The Australians did have a chance to orchestrate a turnaround, on the third morning of the Second Test in Delhi, only to collapse from 65 for one to 113 all out, with Ravindra Jadeja picking up seven wickets. Considering how well they fought back at Indore, they had blown their best chance to secure only their second series win in India since 1969-70. No wonder Smith, who stepped in as captain for the last two games after Pat Cummins returned home to be with his dying mother, kept lamenting that manic morning in Delhi.

This was India's 16th successive home series win, stretching over more than a decade, and like many of the others it owed much to Ravichandran Ashwin. He and Jadeja, who had both been Player of the Series on previous visits by Australia, now shared the award. They were unstoppable in their own back garden. It was the most significant triumph at Test level for captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid. Qualification for the World Test Championship final - against Australia at The Oval in June - was the icing on the cake.

The tourists had a lot to be pleased about too, notably the emergence of the bespectacled young off-spinner Todd Murphy. There was also a long awaited first Test hundred for Cameron Green, and impressive returns for Khawaja, Labuschagne and Travis Head, who all averaged 40-plus.

The three one-dayers that followed felt a little tepid, despite the Australians being nearly at full strength. In a reversal of the Test series, they did pull off a solid comeback after losing the first match, closing out the other two games in resounding fashion. India lost the second with 234 balls unused, a record defeat for them. Suryakumar Yadav endured a nightmare series, out first ball in all three matches, twice lbw to Starc. The goodwill, though, which had flowed into the one-dayers, then seeped into the IPL, for which many of the tourists remained.