It may have taken 15 days to complete, but Indian cricket can finally celebrate the sweetest of limited overs revenge against bitter rivals Australia. With visiting captain Matthew Wade left swinging in vain at short pitched deliveries which would have been waist-high to most batters, India claimed victory in the fifth and final T20 International.

It was a victory as monumental as it was thorough with India taking the series 4-1 , absolutely dominating the best the visitors could bother to offer. The jubilant Indian players gathered behind a large sign proclaiming them to be “CHAMPIONS” without the slightest hint of acknowledging the weight of irony involved.

Just 15 days earlier in a packed Ahmedabad stadium the Indians had been robbed of ICC World Cup glory after being sent into bat on what turned out to be the wrong pitch. Undefeated in their first 10 games of the World Cup, India were expected to defeat Australia convincingly on a dry, spinning clay pit of a pitch. But, in a green keeping blunder for the ages, the pitch prepared was a two-paced dog of a track which provided little of the expected sharp turn and instead left the Indian batters struggling to set a decent target and their bowlers having an even tougher time dealing with the Australian run chase. The result in front of a silenced crowd was the awarding of the World Cup trophy to the second best team in the tournament, Australia.

Fans were devastated, their thirst for world dominance throttled yet again at the pointy end of an ICC Tournament. Dismayed and unable to bombard social media channels, fans searched for answers. How could the greatest ODI team ever assembled have come so close only to stumble at the final hurdle? Why did an inferior Australia now possess six World Cups to India’s two?

The geniuses who scheduled a five-game T20 series between the two nations, starting just a couple of days later, deserve the richest of praise. They have given the whole of India an opportunity to heal, a chance to fire up their internet connections and let the whole world know that India is once again the premier cricketing nation. They have won the coveted sponsors name T20 series trophy and restored India’s faith in cricket.

Australia captain and limited overs specialist Wade was left shattered after losing the fifth and final game.

“It’s hard to wrap my head around at the moment after not being able to get us home,” Wade said after the loss.

“I thought we bowled relatively well. We kept them to a total that probably should have been chased at this ground. It’s pretty disappointing.

“It would have been nice to get the result tonight. I think 3-2 would have been a reflection of where the series was at.”

Hollow words from a dejected and defeated foe. A man who wasn’t part of Australia’s World Cup triumph, handing cricket supremacy back to its rightful owners.

Rejoice, India are champions once again.