India beat Australia, first Mullagh medal given to Rahane

India levelled the test series against Australia by 1-1 after recording an eight wicket victory in the second test at Melbourne.With couple of players of Indian side injured and major players out of the ground the victory is considered as historic. Chasing a low target of 70 runs, Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara got out early. However, Shubman Gill and stand in skipper Ajinkya Rahane kept their cool and reached the meagre target at ease.Rahane also remained unbeaten on 27 after they lost two early wickets of Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara while chasing 70 for victory on Day 4.
Ajinkya Rahane who hit 112 runs in the first innings to craft the victory for the Indian side, was adjudged Man of the Match. For Australia Micheal Starc and Pat Cummins claimed one wicket each. Earlier, the hosts were bowled out for 200 in their second innings before lunch.For India, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja bagged two wickets each while debutant Mohammad Siraj stood out with three wickets and Umesh Yadav claimed one. Australia had made 195 runs in the first innings while India scored 326 runs taking a significant lead.With the series leveled now, the enthuse of cricket lovers are at helm to watch the remaining two matches of the series. India stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane became the first recipient of the prestigious Mullagh Medal after India beat Australia. 

The proud recipient and the inaugural winner of the Mullagh Medal - #TeamIndia Captain @ajinkyarahane88 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/0cBe2icMzz

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 29, 2020

Johnny Mullagh Medal is a tribute to honour the captain of Australia’s first sporting team to tour internationally. Mullagh was the leader of the 1868 Aborginal tour to the United Kingdom. Cricket Australia had earlier announced that the Player of the match of the Boxing Day Test will be awarded with Mullagh Medal.