Australian cricket team in India in 2008-09
| Australian cricket team in India in 2008–09 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
||
| Australia | India | ||
| Dates | 9 October – 10 November 2008 | ||
| Captains | Ricky Ponting |
Anil Kumble (1st, 3rd) MS Dhoni (2nd, 4th) |
|
| Test series | |||
| Result | India won the 4-match series 2–0 | ||
| Most runs | Michael Hussey (394) | Gautam Gambhir (463) | |
| Most wickets | Mitchell Johnson (13) |
Ishant Sharma (15) Harbhajan Singh (15) |
|
| Player of the series | Ishant Sharma | ||
The Australian cricket team toured India from 9 October to 10 November 2008 and played four test matches, for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. During the second test match Sachin Tendulkar became the first person to make 12,000 runs in Test cricket breaking Brian Lara's record of 11,953 runs. Sachin described "It is definitely the biggest achievement in 19 years of my career" on the day he achieved the record. India's 320 run victory in the second test match was also their biggest win against Australia in terms of runs, eclipsing the 222-run victory that came in Melbourne in 1977 and their biggest test win ever in terms of runs. In the first innings of the third test match, Gautam Gambhir and V. V. S. Laxman became the first Indian players to both score a double century in a test innings. This series also witnessed the last tests of two Indian cricketers – Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly.
Before the Australian cricket team was scheduled to tour India and play a series of Test matches, one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches, it was doubtful if the Australian cricket team would tour India after the terror attacks in Delhi and the press briefing given by India's National Security Advisor M. K. Narayan that raised issues of security concern in the minds of Australia's cricketers.
On 13 September 2008, serial bomb blasts took place in India's capital city Delhi in which 30 people died and over 100 people were injured. The very next day after the blasts, Cricket Australia (CA) issued a statement saying that it will review the security situation in the wake of the blasts and will make its decision the next week after performing a risk assessment. The Board of Control for Cricket in India, however, asserted that the blast would have no bearing on the cricket tour which would go ahead as scheduled. However, a conflicting report made on 15 September claimed that Cricket Australia had briefed that the tour was on track. Following these reports, the Pakistan Cricket Board lashed at the Australian cricket establishment for agreeing to tour India while postponing their tour to Pakistan in early 2008 and accused the board of adopting double standards. One PCB official even called the Australians "lilly-livered cowards" But Ricky Ponting issued a statement vindicating Cricket Australia's stand by saying that the circumstances accompanying the cancellation of Australia's tour of Pakistan were entirely different. However, on 17 September 2008, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said that the tour was not yet confirmed and that it could go either way.
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