The mighty Australian team rose to the occasion on the final day of the Boxing Day Test against India to pull off a remarkable 184-run victory in Melbourne. In a chase of 340, the visitors were all-out for a paltry total of 155, in what turned out to be the biggest nightmare for the Indian fans. The victory helped the Australian team to secure a 2-1 lead heading into the final test in Sydney.
The fixture saw a record turnout of 350,700 at the MCG, which surpassed the tally of 350,534 in a game between Australia and England in 1937 over the course of six days. It also became the second-highest attended game just behind India-Pakistan clash in 1999 in Eden Gardens, which drew 4,65,000 people.
Australia began Day 5 on 228/9, with Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland as the overnight batters. Jasprit Bumrah completed his fifer by breaching the defense of Lyon (41) and bundling out the hosts for 234. However, they were up against a tough challenge against a strong Australian bowling attack, who were hungry to eke out a lead in the series.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma continued his horror form and became a victim of his counterpart Pat Cummins yet again. His flick shot induced a thick outside edge and he was caught at the gully for 9 off 40 by Mitchell Marsh. Much was expected from a patient KL Rahul (0), but Cummins made him caught at the slips.
Soon, Virat Kohli (5) flashed THE blade to his nemesis of a delivery again, as his ambitious drive against Mitchell Starc resulted in him edging the ball to Usman Khawaja at the first slip. At the lunch break, India wAS reeling at 33/3, and required a big partnership to dig them out of the hole.
At this juncture, Rishabh Pant did the hard yards of controlling his natural instinct and opted a defensive approach to play out the session. On the other hand, Jaiswal also looked impressive after scoring his second fifty of the game.
The Indian side accumulated 69 runs without losing a wicket in around 28 overs of the second session. Suddenly, things turned bright for them in their pursuit of securing a draw.
Australia’s exceptional bowling force Indian batters to make mistakes
All it required for India was to stay clear of their aggressive intent in the final session. However, the tactic used by Pat Cummins and Co. bore fruit for them in the form of Rishabh Pant’s dismissal. With fielders stationed on the deep and part-timer Travis Head as the bowler, the hosts invited Pant to play his natural game. The southpaw fell into their trap as his pull shot was caught near the long-on boundary for 30.
The dismissal opened the door for the Australian team, who bowled an exceptional delivery to dismiss veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (1). The Australian team went into attacking mode and also got their players involved in sledging to trigger the batting collapse. It certainly paid them dividends as Nathan Lyon made India’s first-innings centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy (1) caught at the slips.
Then, Yashasvi Jaiswal looked on course to steer the team carefully with Washington Sundar impressing with his solid defense. However, Cummins bowled a slower ball bouncer, to which Jaiswal tried to pull towards the fine-leg region, but the ball could only make contact with his gloves, as he was caught in a brilliant fashion by keeper Alex Carey. The opening batter slammed 84 off 208 balls, with eight fours.
The rest of the innings was a formality, as Akash Deep (7), Jasprit Bumrah (0) and Mohammed Siraj (0) fell in quick succession, as India was all-out for 155. Sundar remained unbeaten for the visitors on 5* off 45. Meanwhile, Cummins and Boland scalped three wickets each for the Australian team.
