Australia beat India by 184 runs on Day 5 of the MCG Test to take a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Chasing 340 to win, India seemed to be momentarily in control of the proceedings, with the score reading 112/3 at tea as Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal stood up to the challenge. But a final horror session saw India lose 7 wickets for 34 runs – and eventually get bowled out for 155. With this result, India’s chances of qualifying for the final of the World Test Championship are shut. Yes, they are mathematically still alive but to cement a place, India needed to win this Test and the next game in Sydney.
India took little time to pick up the last Australian wicket, with Jasprit Bumrah clean-bowling Nathan Lyon to dismiss them for 234 in the 2nd innings. India needed to survive under three sessions to head to Sydney 1-1, but Australia had other plans. Rohit Sharma’s woes continued – the India captain got out for 9 balls after grinding for 40 balls – and once the India captain departed to Pat Cummins, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli followed him into the dressing room soon after. At 33/3, Pant and Jaiswal came together to stitch an 88-run partnership, raising hopes of a draw.
That is until the final session unfolded. Pant went after a long hop from Travis Head but found Mitchell Marsh at long-on, which opened the floodgates. Ravindra Jadeja was undone by a ball that took off from the rough, and Nitish Reddy, the centurion from the first innings, could score just 1 before edging to slip.
No resistance from India’s tail
At 130/6, a win was pretty much out of the equation. With India down to their final four wickets, hopes were pinned on their last recognised batting pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington Sundar. Jaiswal built on his 82 in the first innings with another half-century, a solid 84, before gloving the ball to Alex Carey down the leg side.
However, controversy broke out after Australia took the DRS. The television umpire’s eyes saw a deflection as the ball went past the bat and gloves, and hence, despite no spike detected on the snicko, the umpire’s decision was overturned.
With Jaiswal gone, India stared down the barrel, and Scott Boland, Cummins, and Nathan were there to pick the bones.
