[ad_1]
SYDNEY: Fifteen wickets, the series’ most successful bowler leaving the stadium with an ambulance escort, a freak fifty and probably a legend’s final outing on Australian soil.
Day 2 of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) Test was absolute theatre and there was not a single passage of play which felt dull. It felt like a script from the Attitude era of WWE with the cameras chasing Jasprit Bumrah in the parking lot made SCG feel like Madison Square Garden, giving WrestleMania vibes. The moment India’s stand-in captain changed into training gear and descended the steps from the dressing room, eyes were glued to the little sit-out area.
Has he returned? Has the car, which took him, returned? Will he bowl? Precautionary scans? Back or side? The guesswork continued for nearly three hours and it subsided, albeit briefly, only after the seamer was spotted at the venue.
During his absence, India bundled out Australia for 181 to take a four-run lead and even lost four wickets during their second essay.
Senior player Virat Kohli took charge of the players and there was renewed energy as India picked the last four wickets for just 19 runs. There were fist pumps in the air, tight field placements and the body language looked very positive in the final game of the series.
Scorecard: India vs Australia, 5th Test
The positivity continued during the second innings with the bat as Yashasvi Jaiswal started with a flurry of boundaries off Mitchell Starc to signal new-found intent in the dressing room.
The openers fell in quick succession but the approach remained the same. Shubman Gill perished after a busy little hand, Virat Kohli, probably for the last time on Australian soil, was out in the same fashion but what followed next was a period of edge-of-the-seat entertainment.
Rishabh Pant came, entertained and left. After a very watchful first innings, where he copped plenty of blows, the left-hander switched the freak mode on and went after everything which came his way.
In no time, he smashed a 29-ball half-century – second fastest fifty for India in Tests – but was out slashing a Pat Cummins delivery. He was in the mood, the Rishabh Pant mood, on Saturday and he could have well batted Australia out of the game had he stayed in the middle for longer.
Six boundaries and four sixes, and Pant was back doing what he has done on plenty of occasions in this part of the world. It was unfortunate that it didn’t last long but certainly injected a lot of life into India innings, which has often felt like a drag in this series.
India looked positive, looked for runs but lost a few more wickets than they would have liked. Six down at stumps wasn’t an ideal scorecard but they managed to put on 141 runs, taking a 145-run lead, and if the lower-order does what they have done plenty of times, we will have a very interesting finish to the series, led 2-1 by Australia.
A win keeps India alive in the race to World Test Championship final and allows them retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
All that, however, for one last time in the series, will again be down to Bumrah and his magic. Very little has separated the two teams in all games and the visitors would hope for one last push from their MVP to end the summer Down Under on a high.
[ad_2]
Source link
