Finance
Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne hit unbeaten 49 and 28 respectively to help Australia beat India by nine wickets in the third Test at Holkar Stadium on Friday.
On a minefield of a pitch, Australia needed 76 runs to win on day three. Despite losing Usman Khawaja early for a two-ball duck, Head and Labuschagne were able to complete the target in 18.5 overs, bringing the four-game series to a 2-1 tie.
Australia has also qualified for the World Test Championship final, which will be held from June 7-11 at The Oval in London.
The day began with Ravichandran Ashwin gaining an advantage over Khawaja’s forward defense and KS Bharat catching it behind. Khawaja went for a review, but replays showed a healthy spike on the UltraEdge, giving India some relief.
A tenacious Ashwin pressed Head and Labuschagne, and even took a DRS against the latter when Virat Kohli took a diving catch at leg-slip, resulting in India burning a review.
Head broke the shackles by whacking Ashwin over mid-on for four and followed it up with a huge six down the ground in the 11th over, when India had to change the ball.
Head greeted Ravindra Jadeja with a four over his head, and Labuschagne completed the over by sweeping the left-arm spinner through mid-wicket for another boundary.
When Ashwin overpitched, Labuschagne responded with a cover drive for a delightful four. When Jadeja sent in an arm ball, Head played the cut late through backward point for another boundary.
Head danced down the pitch to punch through cover in the 15th over, while Labuschagne placed a reverse sweep well through backward point to make it two fours in the over.
As a last-ditch effort, India included Umesh Yadav in their bowling attack. Head and Labuschagne, on the other hand, were unstoppable; the former slapped the Vidarbha pacer through cover, while the latter drew past square leg to make it two boundaries.
Head smacked down the ground for four runs when Ashwin pitched up. Labuschagne finished the chase in style, dancing down the pitch and lofting past mid-on for four runs to lead Australia to their first Test victory in India since 2017 win in Pune.
Brief scores: Australia 197 and 78/1 in 18.5 overs (Travis Head 49 not out, Marnus Labuschagne 28 not out; Ravichandran Ashwin 1-44) beat India 109 and 163 by nine wickets
SourceIANS
