- Australia has regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
- First time in a decade that Australia has won a series
Australia regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade after sealing a 3-1 series victory with a six-wicket victory at the SCG.
With 166 to win in the final innings, Usman Khawaja set up the chase with a classy 41 before Travis Head (34 not out) and Beau Webster (39 not out) finished the job before tea on the third day.
Australia's series win comes after India defeated them in the opener in Perth, before victories in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney set up the triumph.
For the Australian team, a series win over India had been seen as the final frontier, with props Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, Khawaja and Head among those who had never previously held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in their impressive careers.
That trophy seemed a pipe dream after a 295-run defeat in the series opener in Perth, but only inclement weather in Brisbane prevented Australia from claiming victories in the four Test matches that followed.
But all of Australia's good work threatened to unravel with a defeat at the SCG, where defeat would have tied the series at 2-2 and kept the trophy in India's hands for the fifth consecutive series.
Australia regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the SCG on Sunday
Travis Head (34 not out) and Beau Webster (39 not out) finished the job before tea.
Responding to India's second innings of 157, Australian openers Sam Konstas (22) and Khawaja scored 39 off the first 23 balls before quick Prasidh Krishna (3-27) spearheaded India's comeback and left the hosts in danger with 3-58.
Khawaja showed positive intentions after lunch, punishing both Prasidh and Mohammad Siraj while India superstar Jasprit Bumrah watched from the pavilion with a back problem.
But India would have felt renewed confidence when the veteran clipped wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant off Siraj's bowling shortly before his second half-century of a quiet series.
From there, all-rounder Webster continued a strong debut in the event by forging a 58-race winning partnership with serial swashbuckler Head.
Webster hit the winning runs just over an hour after the lunch break, and Australia finished with 4-162.
The victory confirms Australia's place in the World Test Championship final, which will be played against South Africa at Lord's in June.
Victory confirms Australia's place in World Test Championship final
During two and a half dramatic days of cricket in Sydney, Rohit Sharma was sacked as Indian captain, Sam Konstas continued to irritate the tourists, India's best player Bumrah suffered a game-ending back injury and Steve Smith went up one race. less than 10,000 for his trial run.
Through it all, stand-in pacer Scott Boland stood tall, posting the best match figures of his first-class career (10-76) and his two best innings (4-31 and 6-45) since debut your dreams in the test. MCG three summers ago.
Boland sent in Siraj and Bumrah to complete his six-wicket haul and help bowl India (185, 157) within 45 minutes of Sunday's restart.
The Australian batting order (181, 4-162) sealed the result in response to secure the 3-1 series victory.