How the Aussies reacted to drought-breaking series win

Pat Cummins

It’s a huge win in the context of this series, as big a series as you can play at home. I felt like it was kind of see sawing throughout the whole series so to finish it 3-1, to hold the trophy is an amazing feeling. And then the extra layer is now securing a spot in the World Test Championship final, which was always a huge goal for us. So, yeah, really satisfied. – speaking at the press conference

Scott Boland

It’s been a really enjoyable couple of months. Probably didn’t expect to play too much of a part in this series but I prepared as if I was going to and the last few weeks have been awesome. There’s so many other good fast bowlers around the country I was a little bit nervous but, just got my body right, a lot of hours in the gym and just really happy to be here now. To win 3-1 against India, hasn’t been done for a while, but it’s awesome. I’m happy just playing a part wherever I can. – speaking after being named Player of the Match in the final Test

Alex Carey

I think we deserve a few beers. The families are here. It's been 10 years. It's been a pretty hard-fought series. It takes lot out you, five Test matches, ups and downs, a lot of travel and yeah, I think this group deserves a beer or two. We've got the trophy back, we've got ourselves into a World Test Championship final, so why not.

I thought I was able to contribute with a bat throughout the series. I felt really solid for a lot of starts. I try to complement our amazing quicks and hold on to the catches behind the stumps. But I think, you know, overall, everyone chipped in at the right time. – speaking to Triple M

Travis Head

The series could have gone in any direction the last few Test matches. It’s been a crazy five Tests and the guys who got through all five are looking forward to a bit of time off. It’s a bloody tough tour and its nice to come out on the winning side of things today. I’m wrecked, I don’t know what I’m going to do in the next few days but we’ve got 10 or 12 days off now before we go to Sri Lanka and I’m going to use every little bit of that. I’ll look forward to a couple of cold ones tonight, I’ve been off the drink for a bit, so I’ll look after myself and our attention will turn to what’s next. – speaking to Fox Cricket

Usman Khawaja

I'm not gonna lie, I didn't want to talk about it too much beforehand, but the wicket was a stinker. It wasn't like a traditional SCG wicket with the new grass on it, there's cracks all over it, it's been tough batting, the scoreboard will tell you that. Thankfully we were on the right side of the win but when it’s a wicket like that you’re always on a knife edge.

I felt like I had the right intent but I was just getting Bumrah'd. It was friggin' tough work. You never wanted to see anyone injured, and it's a shame he was, but thank God for us because today would have been an absolute nightmare facing him on that wicket. Everyone felt it, as soon as we didn’t see Bumrah out there we had this feeling that ‘alright, now we’ve got a chance here’.

It just felt so hard. It's easy to say now because I probably won't have to face him ever again, thank God. I've never actually found someone so hard to score off and get off strike as Bumrah, and then you always feel like he's got a wicket ball up his sleeve.

It didn’t matter how many runs you were on, if you got Bumrah in the wrong conditions, you needed a little bit of luck, show a bit of intent, hopefully you can get through his spell, but it was very tough. – speaking to ABC Grandstand

Sam Konstas

It’s been quite special. To top it off with a win today was outstanding. I don’t think it’s kicked in yet, hopefully in the next few days it will, soak it in, reflect on it, but it’s been awesome. The team’s been outstanding to me, just letting me play my natural game. Pat Cummins is a great leader and hopefully we can keep going on.

Not too sure if I’m selected yet (for the Sri Lanka tour) but obviously, adapting to different conditions, maybe we’ll find a new Sam. I think so, but time will tell.

It’s a special event for the McGrath Foundation, hopefully we spread more awareness and get the funds in because my cousin passed away with Leukemia and my grandpa with bowel cancer. So hopefully we can spread awareness and work towards a cure. – speaking to Triple M

Marnus Labuschagne

I love the Baggy Green, I love Test cricket and I love playing with these boys.

It was a real challenging series. For us to just keep finding a way ... all the batters had certain games where they just missed out and then stepped up in certain games and as a collective over a five Test match series, the batters just found a way. – speaking to Fox Cricket

Nathan Lyon

It has been a long time, there’s only a few of us that have held this trophy before. Special moment, something we’ve all wanted to achieve as a team, especially when you come up against a great side. The boys have been pretty amazing. There was nerves, there’s always nerves when you care, but the boys were fantastic today. – speaking to Fox Cricket

Steve Smith

I got chainsawed didn’t I! Pretty nasty delivery actually; back of a length, I thought ‘oh, there’s one to punch through point’ and it just took off. It wasn’t to be (reaching 10k Test runs), but that’s alright we got the result we were after.

Absolutely (toughest SCG pitch I’ve played on). By a mile. It was two-paced, up and down, seaming all over the place, swinging. I’ve never played on a wicket like that at the SCG before. It was incredibly difficult to bat.

I love the game, it’s been a fun series, India are an unbelievable team. There’s been some great challenges, Bumrah in particular. It’s been great fun and fortunate to get the result in the end. – speaking to Triple M

Mitchell Starc

Five Test matches against India, they’re always grueling, particularly four and five always close together. We’ve all worked our backsides off to get to this series, we knew it was a big one on the calendar and I think that’s just reward for all the hard work from the support staff, the families to the extended squad and everyone that’s taken part. It’s a fantastic result, today caps it off.

I like staying out of the scanner but sometimes I’m made to get in there. It’s always ‘if I can make it worse, what’s worse look like?’ and if not, then kick on. I always want to be a part of it, if I can contribute – I don’t want to leave the guys a man short so that’s always a question – but as soon as I knew I wouldn’t leave them short I was ready to go. – speaking to Fox Cricket

Beau Webster

I'm a bit speechless! If you told me a week ago that all this would happen I wouldn't have believed you. So it's been a dream debut and to get the win inside three days is a hell of a feeling. And I'm sure the boys will celebrate accordingly.

When I hit that cut shot boundary and saw we only needed four I thought, ‘oh, it's got to be one of these two balls’. How many chances will you get to hit a boundary for the winning runs for your country. So I was going to go no matter where that ball was, that last one, and I managed to make connection. So very happy and I just looked straight at Heady (Travis Head) and he was he was up and about. So it was a great moment, one of them that I’ll never forget. – speaking to cricket.com.au

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: Australia won by 184 runs

Fifth Test: Australia won by six wickets

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal