On Sunday, January 5, Australia beat India in the fifth and final Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy by six wickets. For the final Test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the target of 162 runs was set for Australia in the fourth innings, which they achieved successfully against a Jasprit Bumrah-less Indian bowling attack in 27 overs for the loss of four wickets. Usman Khawaja (41) scored more runs than any other Pat Cummins-led team member in the second innings, while Beau Webster remained unbeaten at a count of 39 runs from 34 balls with the winning runs scored.
The Sydney test not only made Australia to win the home series with a scoreline of 3-1 but also finally proved beneficial to Australia, who were winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after almost a decade. Finally, this victory left Australia whether forth again in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Australia will face South Africa during the final iteration of WTC 2023-25 from June 11 to June 15 at Lord’s.
It was the 11th win for Australia in the ongoing WTC cycle, and it also helped Pat Cummins equal Joe Root’s record of most wins by a captain in a single edition of the WTC, with a win in the fifth Test played at Sydney Cricket Ground over three days. Cummins has won 20 out of 33 WTC matches as captain, including the 17 matches played, 11 of which have been won in the current 2023-25 edition of WTC.
Root also got 11 victories as captain in the WTC 2019-21 edition, with which he is leaving the England Test captaincy in 2022, after which England did not even qualify for the WTC final.
Cummins, now tied with Root for most wins in a single edition of WTC, stands followed by Virat Kohli, who shone in leading India to 10 wins in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship.
Cummins will still have three other matches to play in the current edition of WTC, thus leaving him with room to surpass Root and become the only holder of the No. 1 position.
That, however, is likely to break the record later this month, since the Test series against Sri Lanka kicks off on January 29 in Galle, and Cummins is likely to miss the match as he becomes a father for the second time in January.
