India have secured a 2-1 victory over Australia, in perhaps the best Test series of the past decade.
Here are my player ratings for each side.
Steve Smith: 10/10
499 runs at 71
The skipper completed one of the finest-ever series away from home by an Australian batsman, adapting brilliantly to difficult, alien conditions and dominating India’s much-vaunted spin attack.
» Match report: Australia lose Test, trophy at Dharamsala
» All the talking points from the India vs Australia series
» The Liebke Ratings
» Ronan O’Connell: Australia squander an elusive series win in India
» How it happened: Day 4 live blog
» Australia versus India fourth Test scorecard
Glenn Maxwell: 8/10
159 runs at 40
Maxwell had to wait a long time for another crack at Test cricket and seized his chance with a sparkling ton in his first innings back, followed by an impressive 45 at Dharamsala.
A lock at six for Australia’s next series.
Mitchell Starc: 7.5/10
Five wickets at 30, plus 118 runs at 29
Australia’s second-best Test cricketer, after Smith, Starc not only posed a constant threat with the ball in his two Tests but also made crucial runs at eight. He owns a brilliant Test record in Asia, averaging 26 with the ball and 24 with the bat.
Steve O’Keefe: 7/10
19 wickets at 23
O’Keefe was steady in the final three Tests, without being a real menace, but he almost single-handedly won Australia the match at Pune – their first Test win in Asia in more than five years.
Nathan Lyon: 7/10
19 wickets at 25
Lyon was poor at Ranchi but in the other three Tests he bowled better than he had in more than a year. After having a wretched home summer, Lyon was back to his best in this series, bowling with improved shape and on a more attacking line outside off stump.
Pat Cummins: 7/10
Eight wickets at 30
All you Roarers who used to scoff every time we published an article on Cummins – “he’s overhyped, only ever played one good match” – are now aware of why many people, including myself, rated him so highly.
He belied the flattest of decks to be Australia’s best bowler at Ranchi and was an intimidating presence at Dharamsala. If he stays fit he’ll quickly become one of the elite bowlers in Test cricket.
Josh Hazlewood: 6/10
Nine wickets at 33
Hazlewood rarely bowls a bad spell, and the same was true of him in this series. But Australia needed more out of their best Test bowler than just nine wickets across four Tests. This was particularly so at Dharamsala, where Hazlewood managed just one wicket on a pitch tailor-made for him.
Matthew Wade: 6/10
196 runs at 33, plus 12 dismissals
Like most Australian cricket followers, I had low expectations for Wade in this series. I thought his keeping would be a mess in these difficult conditions and that he’d struggle to average even 20 with the bat. He proved a lot of people wrong.
Wade conceded more byes than he would have liked, but only missed two genuine chances in four Tests, which is a decent effort. And he finished with a higher batting average (34) than David Warner, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, Karun Nair, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Matt Renshaw.
Matt Renshaw: 5.5/10
232 runs at 29
Renshaw had a shocking end to the series, dropping two absolutely crucial catches and making 1 and 8 at Dharamsala. But that shouldn’t distract from the fact that, in the first three Tests, he showed a rare ability for an Australian to prosper against spin on dry Indian decks. He looks set to be a 100-Test player.
Peter Handscomb: 5.5/10
198 runs at 28
Handscomb had a strange series. Almost every time he batted he looked comfortable and confident, using his feet beautifully against the spinners. Yet he could not find a way to build on his frequent good starts, except for the incredible fourth innings knock that kept Australia in the series at Ranchi.
Shaun Marsh: 3/10
151 runs at 19
This series was classic Shaun Marsh – two fantastic knocks surrounded by six failures. He was admirably resilient at Ranchi, helping Australia secure a draw, but overall was a major disappointment. He won’t keep his place for Australia’s next series, with Usman Khawaja to come straight back into the line-up.
David Warner: 2.5/10
193 runs at 24
Warner might have scored more runs at a better average than Marsh, but the West Australian at least played two very good innings in the series, whereas Warner did not compile even one. His only half-century was the scratchiest of knocks in which he rode his luck. Warner is a bunny on slow wickets.
Mitch Marsh: 1/10
48 runs at 12, no wickets
Marsh entered the series with a solid record from his previous five Tests in Asia, but had no impact whatsoever before getting injured. He should now slip behind Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright, Moises Henriques and James Faulkner in the Test all-rounder pecking order.
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Ravi Jadeja: 9.5/10
25 wickets at 19, plus 127 runs at 25
KL Rahul: 9/10
393 runs at 65
Cheteshwar Pujara: 9/10
405 runs at 58
Umesh Yadav: 8/10
17 wickets at 23
Kuldeep Yadav: 8/10
Four wickets at 23
Wriddhiman Saha: 7/10
174 runs at 35, plus 14 dismissals
Ravi Ashwin: 6.5/10
21 wickets at 27, plus 53 runs at 9
Ajinkya Rahane: 5.5/10
198 runs at 33
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 5/10
Two wickets at 34
Murali Vijay: 3/10
113 runs at 23
Ishant Sharma: 2/10
Three wickets at 70
Jayant Yadav: 2/10
Two wickets at 50
Karun Nair: 1/10
54 runs at 13
Virat Kohli: 1/10
46 runs at 9
Abhinav Mukund: 1/10
16 runs at 8
qwetzen
Guest
Soapit said: "isnt taylor generally acknowledged as a great captain" Certainly throughout the length and breadth of the Nein comms box. Can't say for everywhere else though. Taylor's 'problem' was that he had a *very* good side for his entire tenure. Warne, McGrath, Healy, Langer, May etc etc etc. so it's difficult to assess captaincy or coaching ability in that circumstance. I can't recall him being as tactically innovative as Border was though. The number of times on the '89 Ashes that AB moved a fielder into an unusual position and have a catch hit there almost instantly was extraordinary.
Joel
Roar Rookie
I get out plenty, stats don't mean anything in this case. You only have to watch a few minutes of that SL series to see that Khawaja needed a lot more than a couple of months to fix the massive flaws in his technique in defense against the turning ball.
Pope Paul VII
Guest
You need to get out more Joel. Nearly all batting tourists get their figures mangled in India. Take a look on statsguru at aussie players series averages in India. This tour was no different to past tours. Their was no overall batting improvement from the past ones. The difference for Khawaja is that he's never afforded the opportunity of redemption.
Joel
Roar Rookie
Khawaja could not have been in the team for India. It's not just his average against spin but the way he plays it. I have never seen a top 6 batsman be so completely hopeless against spin as Khawaja was in SL except for maybe Joe Burns on the same tour.
Joel
Roar Rookie
Can't believe someone is asking if a guy with 247 test wickets is part of our best team.
Rob
Guest
Can we then take out Pujera Innings?
Arky
Guest
I think Renshaw's slightly better batting (particularly taking into account the lack of support from Warner) is offset by the difference in their catching. On the whole, neither Renshaw nor Hanscomb would or should be satisfied with their series, but both showed enough to say we should keep them on and we should expect they will do better next time they play over there.
Arky
Guest
Without Jadeja it's probably 2-1 Australia or more. Without Jadeja OR Smith I have no idea.
Arky
Guest
I thought they should have considered dropping SOK for the 4th test. One of the most incredible purple patches I've ever seen in the first Test (after bowling rubbish in his first spell there, too) but gave us very very little after that.
Arky
Guest
Jadeja won the series for India. That simple. Without Jadeja India get wiped.
Arky
Guest
Warner will be fine on home pitches and has the runs on the board, but surely his position must be in jeopardy when next Australia tours the subcontinent (whenever that is). With Khawaja having done nothing wrong in the home series and left out purely on a horses for courses basis, surely he comes back in for someone and Marsh is the obvious target. He and Hanscomb and Renshaw all had pretty equivalent series to each other but Hanscomb and Renshaw are the future and have inexperience to blame for their inconsistency in India. Marsh is a perfectly adequate Test batsman a lot of the time but you can't pick him ahead of Hanscomb, Renshaw, or Khawaja.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
"A bit generous for our cpt. Considering his failures with the bat in the last test." What? Smith made a ton in the last Test.
rl
Guest
Anyone who's name does not end with 'Marsh' has reason to feel nervous..... I'd be as delighted as anyone if Maxwell could show enough sustained form in the long-version to justify being selected at 6 in the next test season. And by sustained I mean Hanscomb-like, as opposed to Maddison "select on a whim" form.
soapit
Guest
given his names not khawaja i cant see them dropping i guy with a hundred and a 45 in his last two games so would think he's a lock surely?
soapit
Guest
isnt taylor generally acknowledged as a great captain (basically was getting picked for his captaincy during that late lean trot)? waugh i liked because he used the tools at his disposal very well. wont be seen as a great as he probably didnt have the imagination although he almost always didnt need to. always thought his leadership and management of the team for them to get the best out of themselves was better than taylor
Dimethoate
Guest
A bit generous for our cpt. Considering his failures with the bat in the last test. Couple of dropped catches and his verbal actions. Why he engaged in the verbals is beyond me when clearly the Indians thrive on that atmosphere.
qwetzen
Guest
Oh really Nudge. Do you always fall for this? So a reporter asks the coach; "Do you think that the skipper could prove himself to be at least the captaincy equal of Taylor, Waugh and Ponting."? What do think the coach is going to say? It sure as shellgrit isn't going to be; "Not a chance Brian. He's a completely clueless numpty." And speaking of credibility, anyone who states that Waugh, Taylor & Ponting were great captains hasn't any.
Brasstax
Guest
"If the curators at all grounds here don’t prepare fast bouncy wickets for the Ashes they should all be sacked !" There is one small problem if that happens. None of our batsmen barring Smith and possible Warner have proven themselves on fast and bouncy pitches. They all score tons of runs on our flat pitches with true and predictable bounce where you can hit through the line without bothering about footwork and technique. As Yadav showed in the first 15 overs of our second innings in Dharamshala, we are not that flash against quality short pitched bowling on a bouncy pitch. There is a reason why we have been serving up roads at home over the past 4-5 seasons barring the 2013 Ashes. Our batsmen are also vulnerable on a bouncy pitch if the opposition has a couple of quality pacers who can give chin music. Now if we had Ponting, Hayden, Slater, Gilchrist and Martin you would be right in calling for bouncy pitches.
Andrew Pengelly
Guest
Rohan, I dont concur with Cadfaels 4/10, however it should also be acknowledged that he played very badly in two innings (not just low scores but really looking out of his depth) and submitted to a foolish dismissal for his 45, whaen there was a chance to win the match. Considering he only played 2 tests I think 7 would be the max score for Max.
Andrew Pengelly
Guest
Jedaja had more match winning performaces with ball and bat