Australia have thrashed India by 209 runs to win the World Test Championship final and send an ominous warning to England ahead of the Ashes.
Steve Smith and Travis Head both scored impressive hundreds as Australia racked up 469 runs in their first innings, with David Warner and wicketkeeper Alex Carey also chipping in with useful 40s. They then bowled India out for under 300, with their dangerous seam attack of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Scott Boland and Cameron Green starring.
Ajinkya Rahane led India's fightback with a gutsy 89 before he was dismissed by a stunning catch from Green, with all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur making good contributions of 48 and 51 respectively. Australia then set India a huge target of 444 runs to win after declaring on 270-8 in their second innings and promptly bowled their opponents out for just 234.
There was a controversial moment in India's chase when opener Shubman Gill was spectacularly caught by Green despite claims he did not gather the ball cleanly, not least by Gill himself. Despite both Virat Kohli and Rahane getting starts, Australia needed just 23.3 overs to wrap up an impressive victory on day five.
And Australia are looking strong ahead of the Ashes, where they will face a much different challenge in the form of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum's 'Bazball' inspired England. "It's been a dominant display from Australia," former England spinner Alex Hartley said on BBC Test Match Special.
"It was a mammoth total. We knew when Australia could get through the top order of India they would be able to do it. Everyone has had a go and it's been the perfect warm up for them ahead of the Ashes."
Head was named player of the match after scoring 163 off just 174 balls and the 29-year-old is in excellent form ahead of the Ashes ."It's amazing, you come here and give it a crack but it is hard to imagine," he said.
"There's a lot of hard work gone in over the last two years so it's nice. I said in the week that if balls are there to be scored off, I want to be proactive and score off them. Then when they put the ball in nice areas, be good enough to stay out there for a long period of time.
"I was tested throughout the innings. I knew that coming in so I had an eye for what plans they were going to come to. To be out there with [Smith] and bat as well as we did - it was an amazing week."
