4 reasons why India achieved the unthinkable Down Under

#3. Perfect bowling plans

R Ashwin made life difficult for Australia's batsmen

Over the years, Australia has been successful at home because of the number of runs they put on the board. The scoreboard pressure makes their bowlers even more dangerous.

India had good plans for each batsman. More importantly, the execution was top-notch. It is alright to have ideas but implementation often goes awry. But not with India. Not this time.

India decided to break the usual norm of attacking the line outside off stump, especially against Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. They set intelligent on-side fields and attacked the middle and leg stump. This meant the two feared batsmen couldn’t score freely.

The most important aspect of that tactic was to stick to it. In the past, teams have tried a tactic but lost patience and switched to plan B too soon, and paid the price. But this attack, albeit less experienced, was clear about the plans and stuck to it like gum to a shoe.

Earlier in the series, Ashwin outsmarted Smith more than once. He induced an outside edge in the first innings at Adelaide, and then challenged his inside edge of the bat as well. So, here was a batsman with an incredible record, finding it difficult to get going in his own backyard.