The Australian cricket team toured India from 12 February to 26 March 2013, played a four-match Test series against India. During the 1st Test, Mahendra Singh Dhoni set the highest score by an Indian Test captain, scoring 224 runs, beating the previous record held by Sachin Tendulkar. India won the four Test series in a 4âÂÂ0 whitewash to win the BorderâÂÂGavaskar Trophy. This was first time Australia lost a test series 4âÂÂ0 after their defeat against South Africa in 1970.
Australia introduced two debutants, Moisés Henriques and Glenn Maxwell while India also introduced two debutants, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat first on a flat and dry pitch that would turn from the very first day of the match. Ed Cowan and David Warner made a brisk start to the innings, but MS Dhoni managed to stump Cowan off an Ashwin delivery to halt the opening partnership at 64. Australia los the wicket of Phillip Hughes for 6, but went into lunch at 126-2. Shane Watson fell victim to Ashwin soon after lunch, and at 126-3, this brought Michael Clarke to the crease. Australia lost a further two wickets, in Warner and Matthew Wade before the duo of Clarke and debutant Moises Henriques stitched a crucial partnership taking Australia to 215-5 at Tea. Both batsmen completed their half centuries after the Tea break and continued piling on the runs. At 304-6, Ashwin was able to beat Henriques on the sweep catching him LBW, bringing to an end the 151 run partnership. Mitchell Starc departed soon after for a measly 3 runs, but Clarke brought up his century in the last over of the day, with Australia having managed to fight back to a total of 316 for the loss of 7 wickets.
On Day 2, Clarke and the tail-enders managed to drag the innings to 380 all out at lunch. Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay opened the batting, but both were dismissed soon at leave India in a spot of bother at 12-2. Sachin Tendulkar and Cheteshwar Pujara began the task of rebuilding the innings on a pitch that was beginning to take more turn. Pujara and Tendulkar stitched together an important 93 run partnership, but Pujara was dismissed against the run of play at 105-3. Virat Kohli was the next man in and along with Tendulkar, he negotiated the remaining overs, to ensure India were 182-3 at the close of play.
Day 3 would be a crucial day, as a good batting performance by India would ensure they would ensure parity or them overtaking the Australian total, but a poor one would almost certainly put them in a losing position on a deteriorating pitch. On 81, Tendulkar was deceived by a Lyon delivery spinning away and was bowled, meaning India was 196-4. MS Dhoni strode out to the crease, and along with Kohli he took the attack to the Australians, compiling a quickfire 37 off 42 by lunch, and India were comfortable at 263-4. After lunch, the positive continued as both batsmen regularly found the boundary and Kohli brought up his 2nd hundred against Australia as the team score crossed 300. Soon after, Kohli miscued a Lyon ball to Mitchell Starc bringing an end to a fluently compiled 107. India's next few batsmen hung around with Dhoni who brought up his hundred soon after tea. At 406-8, it looked unlikely that India would achieve a substantial lead to drive home the advantage. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dhoni however, came together to forge a 140 run partnership for the 9th wicket that would truly wrestle back control for India. Dhoni reached 200 in the final session, making him the first Indian wicket keeper batter to score a double century. At the close of play on Day 3, India ended at a dominant 515-8, leading by a decisive 135 runs.
On Day 4, India stretched their total to 572, Dhoni was finally dismissed at 224, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar contributed a crucial 38 off 97 balls.
In the second innings, the Indian spinners struck regularly, and except Henriques, no other Aussie showed any resistance, thus leaving India with a small target. Sachin Tendulkar finished the match by hitting two sixes off consecutive balls.
India again lost the toss but this time the pacers extracted early movement which aided the spinners and resulted in low 1st innings total for Australia. Clarke and Wade had a useful partnership but the constant loss of wickets meant Clarke declared early. India, in their first innings, thanks to Pujara and Vijay for the partnership of 370 runs, scored 500+ again and the spinners in the 2nd innings dismissed Australia cheaply. This match marked the last test in the career of Virender Sehwag .
The first day was lost to rain, and thanks to Smith and Starc's batting, Australia got a healthy first innings total. India, however, with Dhawan's quickfire debut century and steady batting from Vijay, got a small lead. In the second innings, the Indian bowlers again dismissed the Australians for a low score and India won on the last day with less than 4 overs left.
Clarke was ruled out due to Back injury and Watson was the captain. The spinners wreaked havoc in the match, and only Siddle from Australia and Pujara from India showed some resistance. Jadeja got his best bowling figures in Tests in the second innings and India won the test to record their first-ever whitewash against Australia.
Homeworkgate refers to a controversial sequence of events that took place during the 2013 tour of India.
Australia lost the first two Tests of the series, the second of them by a heavy margin: an innings and 135 runs. In this game, Australia became the first team in Test cricket to declare in its first innings, and then lose the match by an innings. With two Test matches left, the best Australia could hope for was a drawn series. Before the 3rd Test, four Australian players â Shane Watson, James Pattinson (both of whom had played in the 2nd Test), Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja (who were in the touring party) â were made ineligible for the match following a breach of discipline. The incident referred to an assignment given by head coach Mickey Arthur to the players requiring them to give in writing ways to improve their performance to help the team. The aforementioned players did not submit their replies within the time stipulated. Michael Clarke, the captain, revealed that the extreme step had been taken as a result of repeated infractions. Former players reacted with astonishment at the harsh decision taken by the team management. Vice-captain Watson returned to the tour, after he flew back to Sydney after being dropped.