In 2017, Australia’s Test team came home from India after four Tests with a 2-1 defeat. In 2023, the scoreline was the same. In the first series, the tourists made the better of a turning pitch to win a shootout, fumbled a game they had in their keeping, batted the last day to see out a draw and had a loss by a substantial margin. This time around they started with a big loss, had their fumble in the second match, won the shootout in the third, and batting out the draw to finish it off.
The results don’t merit rejoicing, but with India having lost three matches and won 36 in more than a decade, the fact that Australia’s tours have produced two of these wins is worth some satisfaction. The sequence of results meant that 2017 was a story of taking a lead and being reeled back in, while 2023 surrendered the chance of a series win in five days, but fought back from that low with unlikely tenacity. It’s a matter of opinion which scenario would leave losing players feeling better about the situation.
