AUSTRALIA VS INDIA, 4TH TEST, MELBOURNE :Australia’s Electrifying Victory Over India In 4th Test to Take Lead Test Series By 2-1 .
India dismissed at 155 in Day 5 of the 4th Test versus Australia on Monday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as the hosts lead the 5-match series 2-1 with a 184-run victory. Yashasvi Jaiswal battled alone with an 84 run knock before a dubious leg before wicket sent him packing without reaching the century mark for the second time in the match. India began its slide when Rishabh Pant was plucked, pulling. Earlier, the likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli fell apart and no major runs came for the team, laying it bare for the middle order. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja also couldn’t do much in the middle order after Pant left. Nathan Lyon fled the game picked up the maximum wickets for Australia with 4 scalps to his name and pacers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland also made significant contributions. Australia’s Electrifying Victory Over India In 4th Test to Take Lead Test Series By 2-1 .
TOSS-
Australia won the toss and chose to bat.
PLAYING XI-
Australia Squad:
Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India Squad:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
DAY 1-
After three Tests, the Australian wanted to provide the hosts with ‘something different’ and the search had brought them to 19-year-old Sam Konstas, assigned with undoing the dominance Bumrah exerted over the top-three of the hosts. The debutant then unleashed the party popper, dazzling a raucous holiday crowd at the iconic ground with the unencumbered audacity of his stroke play.
He reverse-scooped and attacked India’s fast bowlers, he was unafraid of mixing it up and, generally speaking, he then went and threw a big spanner in India’s works early in this contest on a good surface at the MCG. Dollops of fortune aided him too, along with the pattern Bumrah had set in the first over, when he beat him four times. Instead, the youngster attempted a pair of reverse scoops, yet his bat only clicked the thin Melbourne air every time.
He reached the landmark in only 52 balls to become second youngest Test match half-centurion for Australia and celebrated it smashing Siraj for four and a six in the next two deliveries to take his tally of boundaries to eight (6x4s;2x6s). His business was finally done on 60 when Jadeja turned him around which released an LBW appeal to leave the 89-run opening partnership.
But the callow figure, who trudged off to a cacophony of applause, had paved the way for the rest of the batsmen, including Khawaja and Labuschagne, who had relative free starts to their innings. After leaking 112 runs in only 25 overs of first session, Indian bowl-dry found his in the next as they ran in straight lines with a fielder short on the legside. Deep and Bumrah bowled two maidens apiece to start the second session before Khawaja broke the rut with a pulled boundary.
Eventually, all the attrition came good for India when Bumrah came back for another spell and broke the stand worth 65 runs, getting Khawaja for a fifth time in these four Tests. This one was a bit lucky for Baisya as Khawaja toe-ended a pull shot straight to midwicket, earning a look of disbelief even from the bowler.
Australia luck ran out immediately after the drinks break when Labuschagne launched out at Washington Sundar and top-edged a catch straight to Virat Kohli at mid-off. Bumrah came with the old ball again, and Australia went from 237 for 2 to 246 for 5. He banged one through and cleaned up Travis Head for a duck when the series’ top scorer shouldered arms and then had Mitchell Marsh caught behind for 4 trying to swipe across the line.
It was at this stage that Australia found a valuable 53-run partnership between Alex Carey and Smith before the former departed for 31 to the tireless Deep when India had opted for the second new ball. Smith and Cummins settled through the rest of the tricky session under lights, with the star batter not out 68 at the end of the day.
DAY 2-
Smith and Cummins chipped in some quick runs in the first hour, but Jadeja broke the ominous stand by removing the Australians captain on 49. Smith though, brought up his 34th Test hundred, and fifth at the MCG, before he went through the gears after with someone like Jadeja and also Washington Sundar to deal with. Mitchell Starc also went for the kill and even hit Jasprit Bumrah for a six before the end of the session. Lunch break was welcome relief for a faltering India, who then struck early in the second session. Starc was cleaned up by Jadeja while the bowler got rid of Smith when a bit of fortune was on Deep’s side – the hundred-maker stepped out for a big shot off the pacy off-spinner’s bowling but a ricochet off his leg found the gap and rolled off to dislodge a bail with the batter a mere spectator. Bumrah soon wrapped up the innings but then India’s riposte came up short once again.
Rohit Sharma, the opener, came right back, only to be sent on his way by his counterpart when he attempted — and failed — to pull a delivery that was not short enough to warrant the shot. KL Rahul and Jaiswal began to build a stand but Cummins nipped that in the bud, with a brilliant delivery that straightened off a length, squared up and cleaned up Rahul right on Tea.
First to go was Jaiswal — who became a run out for 82 after blasting one to mid-on and scampering for a single. Kohli didn’t seem interested and held his ground, which got Jaiswal out. Seven balls later, Kohli took the bait and edged, one he would have largely left for the session if not for another short ball from Scott Boland, and slipped away for 36. But Boland stuck out a waiting drop, maid Akash Deep nightwatchman and left India five down.
DAY 3-
Ravindra Jadeja was the posterboy of restraint during his 51-ball resistance, but Lyon thrashed a bit on his own trick against the Indian all-rounder. Lyon bowled a length that continued to drive the left-hander on the backfoot, and changed his pace intelligently. One at 88kmph slipped through and trapped Jadeja leg before on 17.
Nitish and his fellow all-rounder Washington Sundar then set about justifying the team management’s tough and controversial selection decisions for the fixture with their defiant partnership. And Nitish, who had scored three 40s in this series already, showed no sign of being tentative even when India were on shaky grounds at that stage. Washington defied Pat Cummins & Co. too with determination as he batted deep – only the second time in Australia for him after scoring 62 in the famed Gabba victory of 2021. A slice of luck smiled on him when Steve Smith dropped a difficult catching chance in the slip cordon.
Nitish’s essay meanwhile was steady but not adventurous as the third day proved an excellent one for batting. Nitish withstood getting trapped in the all-too-familiar rut of attempting the ramp shot off the short ones from Pat Cummins, having perished in that fashion at Adelaide. He even got a short ball to his glove, but left it alone. From the outset, though, he played with swagger, pouncing on the drives to the quicks and charging Lyon. There was only one moment of audacity in an otherwise measured effort in which he attempted a reverse sweep off the pace of Scott Boland. He continued in the same way in the last session as his father watched on from the stands, nervously chanting prayers for the century.
Lyon grained some extra bounce and nicked off Washington before Cummins had a first-slip catch – the first of the game – to dismiss Bumrah, and it took some doing to get there. Nitish remained in the 90s for 18 deliveries before lofting Boland for a four down the ground to reach his hundred. Not long after he did that, the players had to go off for bad light. While they waited for it to get better rain intervened to ensure there was no more play. India ended the day at 358 for 9, 116 behind Australia.
DAY 4-
One thing that has been clear from the Indian side in this Test is the reliance on Bumrah – he bowled 39.4 in all, 28.4 of them in the first innings – the only times when he bowled more in a single innings in Tests are thrice previously. In the second he carried a larger burden – with 24 bowled off 82 overs to date. In those 24 overs, he rattled Australia’s cage after India had conceded a 105-run first-innings lead by taking four wickets.
He got Day 4 underway with a bang, dismissing his first-innings tormentor Sam Konstas and celebrating like 19-year-old Konstas did to the crowd on Day 3. He and Akash Deep later had a spell during which they lamented their luck, as Usman Khawaja and Labuschagne survived endless plays and misses, and continued to be squared up. India were exceptional with the new ball without reward – they drew 41.6% false shots in the first 10 overs but prized only one wicket in this segment.
Siraj then bowled like someone with a point to prove after his wayward first-innings efforts. He flattened Khawaja’s stumps to relieve the opener of his misery. Bumrah and Siraj then helped them speed up their progression in the game in the second session as the two spearheads pounced on a floundering South African batting unit to tak four wickets within the space of 22 balls.
It began with Steve Smith edging a full, widish delivery to Siraj behind, and Travis Head experiencing a rare double failure against India — Robert and Jacob’s alternative, chipping a Bumrah delivery to mid-wicket where Nitish Reddy was waiting. This also marked Bumrah’s 200th wicket in the format. The ace pacer soon had an out-of-sorts Mitchell Marsh nipping one behind and then find the bat-pad gap of Alex Carey to leave Australia Reeling at 91 for 6.
Just when India were regrouping, Pat Cummins came to wreak havoc and stole the roars from India to put on a stand with Labuschagne, who reprised his role of making the most opportunities from near-misses and two dropped catches — the latter two off the hands of Yashasvi Jaiswal. They added 57 important runs to extend Australia’s advantage before Siraj — and India — got the benefit of an ‘umpire’s call’ for an LBW appeal against Labuschagne. With Labuschagne gone, Rohit Sharma continued to recall Bumrah for short stints seeking to polish off the lower order but that didn’t quite happen as he would have wished.
Mitchell Starc succumbed to a sharp run out by Pant, and Cummins nicked Jadeja to Rohit at first slip to depart for 41 but the last-wicket partnership went unbroken. From 173 for 9, Lyon and Boland went on to frustrate India and stretched the lead well past 300. The pair has now batted a combined 25 overs over two innings in this fixture. While India were unable to wrap up Australia’s innings before stumps, the hosts also decided against doing it themselves with a declaration with batting seemingly getting easier on the surface.
DAY 5-
It was the same as the start of the fifth day, with India collapsing in the face of pressure. They were on back foot from the moment Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli (all three of them) could not handle the new ball – the India captain attempted to flick a full delivery from Pat Cummins and edged a catch to the fielder in gully; Rahul had been hit by a delivery of exceptionality from the skipper in the same over that he was unable to keep the outside edge of his bat away from, while Kohli succumbed to the old bad habit of chasing a delivery well outside the off-stump which he managed to edge successfully at the stroke of Lunch.
The inflexion point for Australia came after they had gone wicketless through the middle session, with Rishabh Pant succumbing to his desire early after Tea, hoisting a half-tracker from part-timer Travis Head to Mitchell Marsh at long-on. Pant’s impulsive shot wreaked havoc on India’s parade towards a probable draw when Australia grabbed two more wickets in the remaining 27 balls.
Scott Boland got one ball to rear from a length off a fending Ravindra Jadeja, who edged behind. Nathan Lyon then stoked Australia’s belief of a series lead by inducing first-innings centurion Nitish Reddy to edge to Steve Smith at first slip for just 1 run. From 121/3, India went to 130/6, putting a spring in Australia’s steps.
Off the bowling of Morning star employee Mark Wood, the India opener attempted a pull shot to a short delivery but failed to connect properly. Cummins asked for a caught behind which was turned down by umpire Joel Wilson and then reviewed it instantly. Replays image showed a clear deviation in the path of the ball past the bat and the glove but the Snicko did not show any big spike. However, the third umpire ruled out the on-field decision as the deviation left India seven down. Akash Deep hung around for 16 balls before edging Boland to Head at forward short leg.
The defiance of Jaiswal-Pant in the middle session gave India a glimmer of hope for shared spoils but the game headed into a period when all nine fielders were stationed around the bat in search of two wickets with 15 mandatory overs remaining in the day. Bumrah nicked one to Smith at first slip off Boland and Lyon sealed the victory by trapping Mohammed Siraj leg before.
Short Scorecard :
Australia 474 (Steve Smith 140, Marnus Labuschagne 72; Jasprit Bumrah 4-99) & 234 (Marnus Labuschagne 70; Jasprit Bumrah 5-56, Mohammed Siraj 3-70) beat India 369 (Nitish Reddy 114, Yashasvi Jaiswal 82, Washington Sundar 50; Scott Boland 3-57, Pat Cummins 3-89, Nathan Lyon 3-96) & 155 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 84; Pat Cummins 3-28, Scott Boland 3-39, Nathan Lyon 2-37) by 184 runs.