December 16, 2024

IANS - Brisbane

After stumps came on a day where only 33.1 overs of play was possible, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood scythed through the top-order to leave India at 51/4 in 17 overs and trail Australia by 394 runs.

With KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma unbeaten on 33 and zero respectively, India need more 246 runs to avoid a follow-on, a scenario which they haven’t faced after The Oval Test in 2011. But with rain expected on days four and five, India might just save themselves from being 2-1 behind in the five-match series.

In the morning, under overcast skies, Australia’s first innings ended at an imposing 445, with Alex Carey making 70. Jasprit Bumrah claimed his sixth wicket and end with 6-76 in his 28 overs, before Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep managed to get a scalp and end Australia’s innings.

After rain forced a five-minute delay in commencement of the proceedings, Carey raised his fifty by sweeping Ravindra Jadeja through backward square leg for a boundary. Starc had some fun by slog-sweeping and heaving for his boundaries off Jadeja and Bumrah, before nicking behind to Rishabh Pant off the latter.

It also gave Bumrah his 50th Test wicket in Australia, becoming just the second India pacer after Kapil Dev to reach the landmark. Carey got boundaries off Akash Deep on either side of a 15-minute rain interruption, before Siraj castled Nathan Lyon with a full and straight delivery. Carey was the last man to fall for Australia after he pulled to mid-wicket off Akash, as Australia continued to be in box seat of the match.

India’s innings began with Yashasvi Jaiswal getting a healthy outside edge running for four off Mitchell Starc. But on the very next ball, Jaiswal flicked a half-volley straight to square leg, and was dismissed for four. It’s also the third time in this series that Jaiswal fell to left-arm pacer Starc.

Australia’s bowlers used their tall height to good effect and extract uneven bounce as Josh Hazlewood got a length ball to hit KL Rahul’s left arm. Starc came back to have Shubman Gill driving away from his body on a wide delivery and the outside edge was snapped by Mitchell Marsh leaping to his left at gully.

Virat Kohli never looked comfortable from the word go, being beaten by Hazlewood initially, before gloving down a sharp bouncer from Starc. After Hazlewood was hit for two boundaries by Rahul, the pacer had something to cheer about when he enticed Kohli to drive away from the body against an outside off-stump delivery and nicked behind to Carey, before rain forced lunch to be taken early.

The post-lunch session saw eleven balls of action where Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul resorted to rotating the strike before the drizzle came in the way again. Post resumption, Pant and Rahul played for 4.3 overs, before rain again came to force them off the field.

After rain relented, Rahul leaned into a gorgeous drive off Cummins for four. But Cummins bounced back to when he angled one across the stumps and forced Pant to play at it, and he ended up nicking behind to Carey for nine.

It also marked the third time Cummins dismissed Pant in this series, after not taking his wicket previously in Tests. Rahul drilled Starc through cover for four, before looking despondent and Starc giving a frustrated look as rain came again, and forced for the tea break to be taken.

In the final session, only 2.5 overs of play was managed. After Starc completed his over, Rahul and Rohit faced the off-spin of Nathan Lyon and Travis Head, as the duo bowled from round the wicket angle and found some turn and tons of bounce. Some hope of more overs to be completed ended when rain came back again and brought the curtains on a frustrating day of Test cricket.

Brief Scores: Australia 445 in 117.1 overs (Travis Head 152, Steve Smith 101; Jasprit Bumrah 6-76, Mohammed Siraj 2-97) lead India 51/4 in 17 overs (KL Rahul 33 not out; Mitchell Starc 2-25) by 394 runs

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