Finance
India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 4 Highlights: The final hour went totally in favour of India, who were ecstatic following a gutsy performance from Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep, as the tourists avoided a follow-on in Brisbane amid another start-stop day. Mitchell Starc dismissed Mohammed Siraj in the over after tea, and Pat Cummins superbly timed Ravindra Jadeja’s dismissal at the start of the final hour, leaving Australia on the verge of imposing a follow-on.
However, India’s Nos. 10 and 11 put on an undefeated 39-run stand to extend India’s fight before Akash hit a magnificent boundary against Cummins to get the dressing room on their feet as they averted the follow-on. Stumps were taken shortly after, and terrible lighting halted play at the Gabba. Australia will enter the final day with still a wicket o take before they can resume their second innings.
Rain held off for much of the first session, but it wreaked havoc in the second, forcing an early Tea with India 201/7, 45 runs away from averting a follow-on. Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy appeared to have sealed the deal on Australia as play started in the second session following a second rain delay. The pair looked untroubled against Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, but Australia captain Pat Cummins came on and dismissed his SRH teammate Reddy. Jadeja now has Mohammed Siraj as company.
Jadeja’s characteristic sword celebration made its debut in this year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with the all-rounder leading India’s bottom order in his maiden innings of the trip. While rain was generally absent in the first session of Day 4 of the third Test in Brisbane, it has hampered the second session, delaying its start and then forcing it to be interrupted after just about three overs were bowled. India’s score read 180/6 in 51.5 overs at the time of the interruption and they require 65 runs to avoid the follow-on.
Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy led India through to lunch in Brisbane, where they were 79 runs away from avoiding a follow-on with a total of 167/6. Rahul’s brave struggle came to an end on 84 off 139 balls when he fell to Nathan Lyon after a screamer of a catch by Steve Smith. Rahul persevered through many rain interruptions on Day 3, as well as a brief one in the early session today. He dropped the ball and remained patient as the rest of his colleagues crumbled around him, until he finally found some help in the form of Jadeja, who is batting for the first time in this series. The partnership between the two was on 67 off 115 when Rahul fell. Their stand crossed fifty shortly after play resumed in the first session, with rain causing a break post drinks on Day 4 of the third Test between India and Australia at the Gabba.
Rahul capitalised on a stroke of luck early on Day 4 by strolling to a half-century in an innings in which the rest of India’s batters dropped like nine pins in the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test. Steve Smith dropped him off Australia’s captain Pat Cummins with the opening ball of the day. Cummins eventually got his wicket by coaxing a timid prod from India skipper Rohit Sharma, who edged it to the wicketkeeper after scoring 10 from 27 balls. India lost half of their team while down by more than 370 runs.
On day three at the Gabba, only 33.1 overs could be delivered, leaving both sides unhappy with the stop-start nature of play due to rain. Nevertheless, 33.1 overs was enough for Australia to hammer home their advantage and put themselves in the driver’s seat and sway the odds of this match — and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as a whole — strongly in their favour.
A terrible start to the innings with the bat has left India gasping for air at 51-4 at stumps, with KL Rahul the sole batsman to make a meaningful knock as multiple wickets went quickly and carelessly to Australia’s bombardment of new balls. Rahul is now joined by skipper Rohit Sharma, who is out of form and in desperate need of runs, the type of batter you don’t want leading into a Test match on the verge of confidence.
India is 394 runs behind Australia’s total, with the hosts’ gigantic first innings mixed with cheap wickets meaning they are not just looking at a win, but the possibility of a massive, spirit-sapping sort that India will experience the hangover from heading into the rest of the series. Australia have the potential to run through India’s batting extremely cheaply, giving them the opportunity to enforce the follow on and still give themselves four or five sessions to try and bowl out India once again.
With Australia doing everything right and India doing the opposite, the results on the page reveal as much about the attitude and mentality in this match as they do about any sort of quality disparity. India would have had high hopes for their young batting core of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant, but the trio fell quickly for a combined 14 runs. Jaiswal and Gill, in particular, will be frustrated with their brief knocks: Jaiswal hit a leg-stump half-volley straight to mid-wicket, while Gill flashed recklessly at a ball wide outside off-stump and was caught at gully.
Things were made worse as Virat Kohli entered with a strong chance of saving the innings alongside KL Rahul, but fell into the same old trap as he was caught trying to drive expansively outside off stump. Josh Hazlewood’s setup worked perfectly as India’s talismanic batter tried to flirt with the delivery and only feathered it through to Alex Carey with the gloves behind the stumps. Indian fans will be extremely disappointed with the manner of these dismissals, more than anything else: with their backs against the wall, it was almost as if India’s main batters threw their wickets away, leaving tonnes of pressure on the lower middle order and the batters to come.
India has not been forced to follow on in a Test match since the 2011 tour of England, but with Australia looking for wickets, 194 runs to go, and only 6 wickets in hand to escape the follow-on, a lot will be on the shoulders of senior hitters Rahul and Rohit. They will take comfort in the idea that there are capable batsmen to accompany Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, but they will also understand that they will need to drastically reduce the total themselves rather than relying on the all-round combo.
If Australia can eliminate one of the two hitters early on day four, they will have a world of possibilities. While KL Rahul has appeared stable and safe at the crease despite being struck on his wrist early in the piece by Hazlewood, Rohit has looked extremely vulnerable against high pace in recent months, and that is a weakness that Australia can certainly exploit. With mass runs on the board, Australia can afford to be aggressive in their tactics and look for wickets through the day, with the flexibility to change their plans in case India do succeed in getting runs on the board.
India will realize that all is not lost. If Rohit can regain his old form, he and Rahul can score runs, given they have previous experience partnering in challenging conditions. With the prospect of rain hanging on day four, the visitors would appreciate a helping hand, as any chance of winning had been eliminated by this stage. It’s a matter of avoiding the follow-on and then batting for time: after their dismal performance in the first half of this Test match, the Indian squad will be delighted to settle for a draw and return to the drawing board ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Check some pointers for India vs Australia 3rd Test Day 4:
– Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep’s unbeaten 39-run stand helps India avoid follow-on at close of day’s play.
– Pat Cummins dismisses Ravindra Jadeja for 77 at the start of the final hour of day’s play.
– Mitchell Starc gets rid of Mohammed Siraj in first over after Tea
– Rain forced an early Tea, India were 201/7, need 45 runs to avoid follow-on
– Nitish Kumar Reddy and Jadeja put up a partnership of 67 in 115 balls before Pat Cummins dismissed the former
– Ravindra Jadeja scored his 22nd Test fifty in the first over of the second session
– Heavy rains delayed the start of the second session
– India 167/7 in 49 overs at Lunch, trail by 278 runs
– KL Rahul fell to Nathan Lyon thanks to a screamer from Steve Smith on 94 off 139
– Partnership between KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja crossed 50 in 73 balls
– Rain interrupted play after the first hour of play, India 105/5 in 30.5 overs
– KL Rahul got to his half-century in 85 balls
– India start the day on 51/4, trailing Australia by 394 runs
– KL Rahul was batting on 33 off 64 balls while Rohit Sharma was yet to get off the mark after facing six balls on Day 3
– Australia were all out for 445 runs, with Jasprit Bumrah returning figures of 6/76
Source: HT
