4 reasons to cherish India's series victory in Australia

#2 New group of batsmen emerge

Australia v India - 4th Test: Day 1

With Prithvi Shaw's injury and the miserable form of both KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, India were left in a tough situation with their opening pair. Mayank Agarwal, who was not originally selected in the team, was called up after the Perth defeat.

The Karnataka opener was left with the daunting task of making his Test debut in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day. That is the kind of occasion that can get to the best, but Agarwal showed no nerves while scoring 76 in his first Test innings.

The biggest indicator of his skill came in the second innings when he scored 46 runs with great resolve despite the whole batting unit collapsing in front of him. Agarwal followed this up with another sublime knock of 77 at Sydney.

Quite clearly, Agarwal has shown he is more than ready for the grind of Test cricket. And that should come as no surprise to fans of Indian cricket who have seen him get one big score after another in Ranji Trophy and for India 'A'.

The 27-year-old has scored an unprecedented amount of runs in the last two years and people were right to question why it took so long for him to get his debut. With Agarwal and Shaw, who has also made an incredible start to his Test career, India can feel confident about their opening pairing.

Another big positive was Hanuman Vihari, who impressed with a fighting half-century on debut at The Oval. While he failed to register a big score in Australia, the tenacity about him was there to see.

Playing in an unnatural role as an opener at the MCG, he scored only eight runs but he played out 66 balls, thus blunting the sting of the new ball. Prior to that match, this was something that most Indian openers had failed to do. Even at Perth and SCG, Vihari showed he belonged, and big scores from him in Test cricket should not be long away.