[6] They proved to be unbeatable in favourable home conditions, but also enjoyed unusual success away, especially beyond the subcontinent such as in South Africa in late 2010, where for the first time ever, the Indian cricket team did not lose a Test series, drawing 1-1.

The nucleus of the Indian side selected for the tour had a number of experienced players who had a good record in Australia.

The Australian team was undergoing a period of transition, with many of their successful players like Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Glenn McGrath having retired after the 2006/7 Ashes and former captain and ageing batting mainstay Ricky Ponting woefully out-of-form.

This was ageing batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar's fifth series in Australia, having been a member of the Indian side in its previous tours Down Under in 1991, 1999, 2003 and 2007.

[11] At the beginning of the tour, Tendulkar had scored 99 centuries in international cricket; the tour gave him the long overdue and agonisingly absent opportunity to become the first player in the history of the sport to reach score his hundredth international century, if across two widely differing formats.

[12] India made two changes to its bowling attack from the third Test of the West Indies series, with pacemen Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav replacing paceman Varun Aaron and spinner Pragyan Ojha, and fielding an unchanged batting lineup.

Television replays and technology cast doubt on the umpires' decisions to dismiss Cowan and Michael Hussey caught behind on the first day.

Ricky Ponting (60) and Michael Hussey (89), both under pressure to maintain their positions in the team, salvaged the innings after the collapse, combining for a partnership of 115, but three more quick wickets in the afternoon saw Australia 8/179 at stumps.

India fell 123 runs short of the target, dismissed inside fifty overs on the fourth day for 169.

The half-century partnership between Ravichandran Ashwin (20) and top-scorer MS Dhoni (57*) for the seventh wicket provided the only resistance, and India was dismissed for 191 after tea.

In reply, the Australian top order collapsed to 3/37, with Zaheer Khan taking all three wickets and at one point on a hat-trick.

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting then steadied the Australian innings, adding 79 runs without loss to take Australia to 3/116 at stumps.

The innings of Clarke is the highest score by an Australian Test skipper on home soil, surpassing the Donald Bradman's 270 at Melbourne in 1937.

In reply, Australia raced to 0/149 in just 23 overs before the close of play, at a run rate of 6.47 runs per over, with opener David Warner scoring a century from only 69 deliveries to finish on 104* at stumps; it set a new record for the fastest Test century by an opening batsman, breaking the previous record set by Chris Gayle (70 balls) at the same venue in 2009–10.

Australia then suffered a batting collapse, losing all ten wickets for only 155 runs, to be dismissed for 369 at tea, with a lead of 208.

Umesh Yadav took five wickets for India, while tail-ender Peter Siddle (30) was the only Australian batsman other than the two openers to manage more than twenty runs.

[27] MS Dhoni (the Captain of India) was suspended for one match after he was found guilty of a slow over-rate for the second time in twelve months.

[28] Match Report: Australia made one change to their lineup, with spinner Nathan Lyon for paceman Mitchell Starc.

India reduced Australia to 3/84, with spinner Ravichandran Ashwin coming into the attack early and taking two wickets.

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting then combined to put on an unbeaten partnership of 251 before the end of the day, with both men making centuries.

[29] Ponting (221) and Clarke (210) put on a further 135 runs on Day 2, with both men making double centuries, before the partnership was broken.

Australia reduced India to 5/122 at lunch on Day 3, with Peter Siddle taking three of the Indian top order wickets.

Peter Siddle finished with 5/49, supported by Ben Hilfenhaus' 3/62, while Virat Kohli (116) scored his maiden Test century, and top-scored for the third consecutive innings.

[33] Peter Siddle (5/49 & 1/47) won the Man of the Match award, after being the main wicket taker in the top order of India's first innings.

The 2011–12 Commonwealth Bank Series was a triangular One Day International cricket tournament, played by Australia, India and Sri Lanka.

The tournament was held in Australia from 5 February 2012 to 8 March 2012, and consisted of a round robin stage, in which each nation played each of the others four times.

Virender Sehwag, who warmed up for this series by scoring the fastest double century in One-Day International history, also is trending south faster than Scott and Amundsen, having followed up his whirlwind 67 in Melbourne with innings of 7, 30, 4, 0 and 10.

The Indian captain is no thunderer at the best of times – neither is coach Duncan Fletcher, which may be part of the problem – but how can he demand more of his batsmen when he has nowhere to hide behind scores of 6, 23, 57no, 2, 12 and 2?

The newspaper also played up Dhoni's one-match ban due to the Indian team's slow over-rate in the third Test.

India, by contrast, just lobs along, its players pocketing millions each year and too spoilt to make major sacrifices.