Australia wins by 184 runs against India on last day of fourth Test
Australia defeated India by 184 runs in a classic match, taking seven wickets after tea on the last day of the fourth Test. They now have a 2-1 series advantage going into the final match in Sydney.
India lost 7-34 on Monday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after being bowled out for 155 in front of a huge crowd of 74,362, despite riding high on the partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant for the whole middle session.
On a thrilling final day that was marred by controversy around the use of the Decision Review System (DRS), spinner Nathan Lyon contributed two wickets, while Australia skipper Pat Cummins and Australian pacer Scott Boland concluded with three wickets each.
India’s chances of making it to the World Test Championship Final are slim after this defeat. India chased a target of 340 runs in their second innings but were bowled out at 155 runs. Yashashvi Jaiswal scored 84 runs in a lone battle before being controversially dismissed.
Nathan Lyon claimed two wickets for Australia, while Pat Cummins and Scott Boland both claimed three. The winner of the player of the match award is Cummins. In addition to making 41 runs in the second innings, he scored 49 runs and claimed three wickets in the first innings. Australia started their second innings this morning with an overnight total of 228 for 9, but they were bowled out for 234 runs. Bumrah, an Indian bowler, claimed five wickets.
Australia chose to bat in the first innings and amassed 474 runs, with 140 coming from Steven Smith. In response, India amassed 369 runs thanks to a valiant 114 from Nitish Reddy. Australia now has a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. India’s hopes of making it to the WCT Final depend on winning the 5th Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, which will begin play in Sydney on January 3.
Although Rohit appeared determined to be the anchor, he attempted to push one of his rival’s deliveries toward the on-side on the 40th delivery. Mitchell Marsh caught the grab after Cummins managed to brush the leading edge. Cummins played the pied-piper outside the off-stump, and the next man, K.L. Rahul, was out in the same over.
After waiting, Virat Kohli leaned into a drive off of Starc’s angled delivery. It was more of a hope-filled and ultimately futile search. India is unhappy at noon and 33 for three.
Southpaws Rishabh Pant and Jaiswal stayed cautious after the break. As Jaiswal selected his positions twice on the off-side against Scott Boland, there was also relief. Pant did the same for a little while before hiding behind a shell.
Jaiswal swept Nathan Lyon and slashed Starc as he hurried to his fiftieth. As India reached 112 for three at tea, captain Cummins forced Lyon, Travis Head, and Marnus Labuschagne into service since he was aware of a poor over-rate.
Head threw one up during the final session, and the host returned with a bang. Pant discovered a tumbling Marsh at long-on when he attempted to clear the deep. It was part of a quadruple blow after the 88-run fourth-wicket partnership was broken. Lyon found the edge of Nitish Kumar’s bat, and Boland’s bounce startled Ravindra Jadeja. India is in ruins and at 130 for six.
Driving outside off-stump, Virat Kohli was unable to save India, falling for five to Mitchell Starc with another nick behind. The outcome improved Australia’s chances and put India’s chances of reaching the World Test Championship final in jeopardy. To advance to the WTC final, India must win in Sydney to draw the series and then hope for other favorable outcomes.
Pat Cummins, Player of the Match: “What an amazing Test match, I reckon one of the best I’ve been part of. All week the crowd has been ridiculous, and it’s been amazing to be part of. Marnus helped me out in that second innings big time, happy to contribute. Amazing innings from Steve, winning the toss, it wasn’t easy on the first day, to get up to high 400s was terrific. We wanted to take an India victory out of the equation [on batting on and not declaring]. We had plenty of runs to play with, and as many helmets around the bat as we could. We put a lot of work into our lower-order batting, we work a lot on how best to bowl to the opposition batters firstly, but also how we can contribute with the bat. We were a bit behind on the over rate, so we thought, get Trav in there, it may help us out with that. Smith just showed how to bat on that wicket. He was brilliant, and some handy catches, sometimes that goes unnoticed in the slips. Very happy change room, we’ll savor this for a little bit before we get to Sydney.”
Rohit Sharma: “It is pretty disappointing. It’s not that we went in with the intent of giving up the fitght. We wanted to fight till the end and unfortunately we couldn’t do it. It’ll be tough to assess just the last two sessions. If you look at the overall Test match, we had our chances, but we didn’t take them. We had Australia 90 for 6. We know things can get tough, but we want to play tough cricket from hard situations. I don’t want to look at one situation. We were not good enough. I went back to my room and thought about what else we could have done as a team, but we threw everything we had, but they fought hard, especially that last-wicket partnership, which probably cost us the game there. We knew 340 wasn’t going to be easy. We tried to set a platform and keep wickets in hand for the last two sessions, but they bowled perfectly as well. We wanted to go for the target, but we didn’t set the platform from our side. There are ways to win games and we fell short in finding ways to win games. He’s coming here for the first time, these conditions can get really tough, but he showed great character, solid technique as well. He’s got everything to be successful at this level, I hope he goes from strength to strength, and he’s got all the backing from the team as well. Absolutely brilliant, we’ve been watching him for so many years now, coming here and getting the job done. He’s not a statistical person, just wants to play for the country and do well for the team, but unfortunately he’s not got a lot of support from the other side.”
