The Ultimate Test Series: The 'death' of English cricket vs India storming Australia's fortress

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Ahead of the ICC World Test Championship Final, we’re looking to crown The Ultimate Test Series – a Test series that would stand out in any era for both its significance to the sport’s rich history and the level of cricket played.

We’ve whittled it down to 16 Test series from all time, which we’ll reveal over the coming days. From there, we'll need your help.

Keep your eyes across our social channels and get voting when the time comes.

On day two, we have the Test that led to the rise of the Ashes taking on India’s incredible series win Down Under in 2020/21.

Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 2020/21
India win four-match series 2-1

India went into the 2020/21 campaign as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy holders, having won the last time they toured Australia. This time, however, the Australians had back the services of Steve Smith and, belatedly due to injury, David Warner. India on the other hand would be losing star captain Virat Kohli after the first match of the series due to the birth of his first child. As it turned out, Kohli’s departure would be just one of their worries.

Few gave India any chance of taking the series after they were rolled for 36 at Adelaide Oval, losing a Test they had largely been in control of. To make matters worse for the tourists, alongside Kohli they also lost pace spearhead Mohammed Shami for the remainder of the series due to injury.

It was at the MCG the comeback began as they rallied to level the series on the back of a century from Ajinkya Rahane. It came at the cost of another frontline quick, with Umesh Yadav breaking down. The injury toll got worse at the SCG, where they pulled off a remarkable draw, while losing Jasprit Bumrah, Hanuma Vihari, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to further injuries.

At the Gabba, deep into their reserves, they did the unthinkable, winning the match and the series off the back of an incredible 89 not out from Rishabh Pant.

England-Australia, 18821-0 to Australia across one Test

Test cricket’s oldest trophy was born in 1882 – five years after England and Australia had played the first official Test match.

A one-off encounter at the Oval would end in the Sporting Times declaring the 'death of English cricket', running a mock obituary that concluded: “The body will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia.” Later that year, England would win 2-1 in Australia and captain Ivo Bligh was presented with the small terracotta urn that would forever be synonymous with ‘Ashes’ series.

Fittingly, the Oval clash that started the now 139-year-old tradition was an absolute classic. Having elected to bat first, the Australians were knocked over for 63 and eventually set England the lowly target of 85 to chase.

At 51/2, the hosts should have had the match won. Instead Fred Spofforth unleashed, taking 7/44 to carry Australia to their first ever Test win on English soil.