[ad_1]
NEW DELHI: India’s chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship final for the third consecutive time suffered a major blow as they lost the Boxing Day Test against Australia by 184 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday. Chasing a record 340-run target, India were all out for 155 in the final session of the fifth and final day of the fourth Test.
Meanwhile, Australia have bettered their chances to face South Africa in the WTC Final at Lord’s next year with the win. The Proteas have booked their spot in the WTC final after a thrilling two-wicket win over Pakistan at SuperSport Park, Centurion on Sunday.
Scorecard: India vs Australia, 4th Test
With the victory, Australia also took an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, with the final Test scheduled to start from Friday, January 3, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant kept India’s hopes alive till tea break on the final day, but one false shot from the latter triggered a batting collapse which resulted in the visitors losing seven wickets for just 34 runs in the end.
ALSO READ:While Rohit Sharma has decided to retire after Sydney Test, shouldn’t he be saying goodbye right away?
As India lost the plot in the WTC Final race, let’s recap how they suffered the big defeat at the MCG:
Sam Konstas special on Day 1 as Australia dominate
Australia promised to throw something different at India with the inclusion of batting prodigy 19-year-old Sam Konstas in the playing XI for the MCG Test and it turned out to be true. Konstas came out of syllabus for the Indian attack on the opening day of the Test after Pat Cummins opted to bat first after winning the toss.
Konstas attacked Indian bowlers, including the impressive Jasprit Bumrah, and set the tone for the Australian innings. The youngster smashed 60 off 65 balls, with the help of two sixes and six fours, and added a quick 89 runs for the opening wicket in just 19.2 overs. His pyrotechnics helped the hosts top-order batters, who were out-of-form in the series, to get back into the groove as they fired in unison.
Konstas’ opening partner Usman Khawaja scored 57, off 121 balls, and No.3 batter Marnus Labuschagne contributed 72, off 175 balls. India fought back a bit in the final session of the opening day by taking four wickets, but Australia finished the day at 311 for 6 with Steve Smith batting on 68* along with Cummins (8*).
Steve Smith’s record breaking day
The second day, especially the first session, belonged to Australia’s batting maestro Steve Smith. Smith completed his 34th Test hundred in the morning and set a new record of most centuries against India in Test cricket history. It was his 11th Test hundred against India, one more than the previous record of 10 he shared with England’s Joe Root. Smith scored a majestic 140, off 197 balls, which included three maximums and 13 fours before he was clean bowled by Akash Deep. By then Australia had breached the 450-run mark in their first innings.
Smith added a valuable 112 runs for the seventh wicket Cummins (49 off 63) to lead the Australian innings. And the duo played a big role in Australia posting a mammoth 474 runs in their first essay.
False start and late collapse for India
India started their first innings on the wrong foot again. Captain Rohit Sharma decided to promote himself to the opening spot, but failed to contribute. Two early wickets and India were reeling at 51/2 at tea on Day 2. Jaiswal and Virat Kohli steadied the innings and rebuilt it to a comfortable 153/2, before a big mix-up between the youngster and the veteran batter ended the former’s stay in the middle.
Jaiswal walked back after a brilliant 82, off 118 balls, and seven balls later Kohli’s patience broke as he edged one to keeper Alex Carey off Scott Boland. India’s situation worsened when nightwatchman Akash Deep too fell in the penultimate over of the day as India were reduced to 164/5 at stumps.
Nitish Reddy special with Washington Sundar
Rishabh Pant (28) and Ravindra Jadeja (17) got the start but failed to play a longer innings and India were on the verge of follow-on again, at 221/7, when Nitish Kumar Reddy was joined by Washington Sundar in the middle on Day 3. India needed 54 more to make Australia bat again in the match. But what happened next was pure magic for India.
Nitish Reddy and Sundar kept the Aussie attack at bay with some prolific batting as the duo helped India avoid follow-on first and frustrated the hosts with a century partnership. They added a terrific 127 runs for the 8th wicket to take India to a comfortable 348/8 when Sundar was dismissed by Nathan Lyon. Sundar scored a patient 50 off 162 balls.
Then Nitish Reddy scored his maiden Test hundred in his debut series, with No.11 batter Mohammed Siraj keeping one end intact to the amusement of the crowd at the MCG. Reddy’s hundred took India to 358/9 at the close of the third day’s play.
Jasprit Bumrah blitz and drop catches
After India finished at 369 all out with the dismissal of Nitish Reddy on day four at 114, Australia made a cautious start after getting a 105-run first innings lead.
Bumrah came to the fore for India in the second session of the fourth day with his record breaking 200th wicket, making him the only bowler with sub-20 average among those with 200 or more wickets in Test history. And along with Mohammed Siraj, who came back to wicket-taking ways, India grabbed four Australian wickets in the mid session of Day 4 to reduce Australia 91/6. But dropped catches began to hurt India as Jaiswal missed three big chances in the hosts’ second innings.
Riding on the chances provided by the drop catches, Labuschagne (70) and Cummins (41) stretched Australia’s lead to past the 250-run mark with a 57-run stand for the seventh wicket. After that Australia’s last wicket partnership of 61 runs between Lyon (41) and Boland (15 not out) set India a target of 340 on the final day.
Top order failure, followed by familiar collapse
India’s run chase started on a disastrous note, as they lost three batters for 33 at lunch on the final day. Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli failed to put up any fight against the Aussie pacers in the morning session. With the visitors in dire situation after the top-order failures, Jaiswal and Pant put up a fightback to keep India’s hopes alive.
The duo played out the entire second session, scoring 79 runs in it. But the start of the final session saw Pant going for a pull shot off Travis Head only to be out caught in the deep by Mitchell Marsh. The end of the 88-run stand triggered the familiar India batting collapse as they were all out for 155 from a comfortable position of 121 for 3 in the final session.
Jaiswal top-scored for India in the second innings with 84, off 208 balls, before falling to a controversial third umpire decision. While Pant contributed 30, no other batters managed to reach double figures as India suffered a humiliating 184 runs defeat in Melbourne.
[ad_2]
Source link
