Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah were the saviours with the bat as they helped India avoid the follow-on. This was after a couple of excellent knocks from KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja earlier in the day. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc bowled their hearts out but couldn’t surpass the Indian lower order.
India were in trouble at the start of the day. With 195 runs to avoid the follow-on, they needed to bat really well in tricky conditions. It could’ve all gone downhill if Steve Smith had held on to a simple chance on the first ball of the day. He dropped KL Rahul as Pat Cummins was the unlucky bowler.
However, the Australian skipper got rid of his counterpart Rohit Sharma a few overs later as the latter edged to the keeper. The Indian captain’s woes continued as he registered his third successive low score in this series.
That brought Ravindra Jadeja to the crease and he stitched a solid 67-run stand with Rahul. Both batters looked in complete control. While there was an odd play and miss, either batter didn’t look troubled, and when they were at the crease, things looked quite calm for India.
Australia lost Josh Hazlewood to a calf injury early in the day and that cost them. The workload of Cummins and Starc increased while Nathan Lyon also got a long spell. They just couldn’t run through the Indian lower order with an older ball.
Things were looking very good for India when Rahul and Jadeja were going before a moment of brilliance from Smith at slip saw the back of the former. It was Lyon who got the breakthrough as Smith took a stunning catch. The 114-ball stand was broken as Australia got an opening. Rahul missed out on a ton as he fell for 84.
But Nitish Kumar Reddy came in and batted nicely as well. He complemented Jadeja really well and the pair put on 53 runs for the 7th wicket, batting out 17.2 overs. The latter notched up his 22nd Test fifty while Reddy was playing second fiddle. The seam-bowling all-rounder who was playing only his third Test defended solidly and didn’t really go after the bowling like he has in the last couple of Tests.
There were rain interruptions on either side of the lunch break as the second session saw very little play. It was Cummins who finally got Australia the breakthrough just before the Tea interval as Reddy was bowled off an inside edge. Surprisingly, Mohammed Siraj walked out at No. 9 but he didn’t last long. He batted 11 balls before nicking off to Starc. Jadeja who batted beautifully till that point looked for runs from then on as he tried protecting Bumrah.
He did hit a six before edging Cummins over the cordon for a boundary. All hopes were pinned on the left-handed all-rounder if India had to avoid the follow-on. But he fell trying to pull Cummins.
Akash Deep, Bumrah help India avoid the follow-on
When Jadeja was dismissed for 77, India still needed 33 runs to avoid the follow-on which seemed inevitable. However, they found heroes in Akash Deep and Bumrah. The two fast bowlers batted magnificently. Starc came on as soon as No. 10 and 11 got together.
But both players defended really well and frustrated the Australian bowlers. Bumrah played a superb pull shot off Cummins for a six to raise some hopes. But India were still 25 runs away at that stage.
Cummins and Starc tried to bounce them out and also went searching for the yorker but the two pacers kept them at bay. While both Akash Deep and Bumrah were defending and leaving well, they didn’t miss out on any scoring opportunities where they pushed the ball in the gaps and ran hard.
Akash Deep slashed Starc for a boundary before he got a thick edge over gully for four which took India over the follow-on mark. Once India went past 245, he swung one wildly and smashed a staggering six off Cummins over deep mid-wicket. After that, the umpires checked for the light and it wasn’t good enough to continue. It forced them to call for stumps early. Bumrah and Akash Deep remain not out and have already added 39 runs for the last wicket, having played out nine overs.
There were high-fives all over the Indian camp when they avoided the follow-on as they knew the importance of buying time in this game. With just one more day left, Australia will need to bat again and that will take more time out of the game.
KEY PERFORMANCES: Australia 445 (Travis Head 152, Steve Smith 101, Alex Carey 70, Jasprit Bumrah 6/76, Mohammed Siraj 2/97) vs India 252/9 (KL Rahul 84, Ravindra Jadeja 77, Akash Deep 27*, Pat Cummins 4/80, Mitchell Starc 3/83).
