10-Nov-2008 101
India thrashed Australia by 172 runs in the fourth and final cricket Test to regain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy after a gap of four years at Nagpur today.
After settting the visitors a daunting target of 382 for victory, the Indians exploited a turning fifth day track to skittle out the Aussies for 209 just before the tea break to wrap up the four-match series with a 2-0 margin.
It turned out to be a perfect gift for Sourav Ganguly by his teammates in his farewell Test as they knocked out the Aussies in just about two sessions of play on the last day.
Only Matthew Hayden stood bravely amidst the ruins with a 93-ball 77 as the Indian bowlers ripped through the batting line up to bring an end to the Australian innings rather quickly.
Leg spinner Amit Mishra (4/64) and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh (3/27) were the main destructors for the hosts who made amends for losing the home series 1-2 in the 2004-05 series.
The opening Test was drawn before India thumped the world`s highest-ranked team by a huge 320 runs in the second Test at Mohali to take a 1-0 lead which they maintained coming into this Test following the drawn third encounter at Delhi.
