Sydney, Jan 4: Seamer Scott Boland picked up another rollicking four-wicket haul and led the way for Australia’s fightback in the final session of day two’s play and left the fifth Test on a knife’s edge at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
After India took a four-run lead after the first innings, they came out all guns blazing in their second innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal smashing four boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the opening over. But Boland led Australia’s fightback by picking up three wickets in quick succession, before getting one at the end of day two to end up with 4-42.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant took charge with a swashbuckling 61 off just 33 balls, including hitting the fastest fifty by an overseas batter in Tests on Australian soil and the second-fastest by an Indian batter in the format. Though India have a lead of 145 after ending day two at 141/6, they have only four wickets in hand, with the game heading towards a thrilling end and a second innings shootout being evident in deciding the match’s eventual result. A lot will depend on how Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, unbeaten on eight and six respectively, will progress on day three. India will also be praying that captain Jasprit Bumrah, who went for scans and has a back spasm, be available to bowl on a pitch which has been difficult for batting.
In the morning, despite the absence of Bumrah, who picked 2-33 in ten overs, India picked up the last five wickets to bowl out Australia for 181 in the first innings. Prasidh Krishna, playing his first match of the series, stepped up to break two crucial partnerships to pick 3-42. While Mohammed Siraj finished with 3-51, Nitish Kumar Reddy showed his utility with the ball to pick 2-32 as all Indian pacers were amongst the wickets to take a very narrow lead and were backed well by superb catching in slips. For Australia, debutant Beau Webster was the top-scorer with an impressive 57 off 105 balls.
Bumrah struck early on day two’s play when he got a length delivery to draw a faint outside edge off Marnus Labuschagne’s bat, which was caught by Pant. India took the review, and snicko detected a spike, meaning Labuschagne was out for just two. With that becoming his 32nd wicket of the series, Bumrah also surpassed Bishen Singh Bedi's tally of 31 scalps to become India's highest wicket-taker in a Test series in Australia. Sam Konstas tried countering Bumrah by crunching two boundaries, including one off a ramp shot. But Konstas was out for 23, as he got an outside edge off Siraj and was caught by gully.
One brought two as Siraj squared up Travis Head and was caught at second slip. Steve Smith and Webster tried resurrecting Australia’s innings through a 57-run stand for the fifth wicket. Smith swivelled and drove Prasidh for a six and four respectively, apart from square-driving and straight-driving for more boundaries, while Webster was attractive in glancing, pulling and square-driving for his runs. However, Smith fell five runs short of reaching his 10,000 Test runs as he nicked behind off a length ball from Prasidh to second slip and fell for 33 off 57 balls at the stroke of lunch. Webster and Carey ensured that Australia didn’t lose another wicket in a session won by India.
The second session began with Webster and Alex Carey taking five quick boundaries to get Australia past 100. Krishna broke the dangerous-looking partnership by getting a fuller ball to jag in and sneaked through the gate to smash Carey’s top of off-stump. There came a little troublesome phase for India – Bumrah leaving the ground for scans in a car and Webster becoming the second Australian batter after Konstas to get a fifty in his debut Test innings in the series. But Nitish brought India back by getting a good length pitching outside off stumps to have Pat Cummins edging it to first slip.
In his next over, Reddy had Starc caught at second slip off his next ball, leaving Australia in trouble of conceding the lead. That became a foregone conclusion when Webster fended at a short ball outside off from Krishna and was caught by gully for 57 off 105 balls, while Siraj got one to nip back and end Australia's innings on 181, where five batters were dismissed in single digits.
The final session began with Jaiswal latching on to short and wide balls from Starc with three delightful cuts and an extra cover drive. KL Rahul got going with two boundaries before becoming Boland’s first victim of the innings when he inside-edged a drive to his stumps for 13. Boland then got one to seam in and go past the outside edge of Jaiswal to hit the top of off-stump, sending back the opener for 22. He then bowled outside off-stump and had Virat Kohli edging to second slip as he fell for six.
More trouble came for India as Shubman Gill danced down the pitch but gave a thin inside edge to a diving Carey, becoming the first Test wicket of Webster by falling for 13. With India in trouble at 78/4, got off in his usual style by dancing down pitch and whacking Boland over long-on After whipping Cummins for four and slappingand over his head another boundary, Pant brought his trademark falling sweep, cut, loft,-sweep, and swipe to take four boundaries a six off.
reached fifty in 29 balls by flicking a six over mid-wicket off Star and hit another six over the same region on the next ball. But Pant’s blitz came an end when Cummins forced him to swing it away from his hitting arc and edged behind Carey. Boland got his fourth wicket when Reddy toe a loft off drive to Cummins at mid-off. Australia could have got another scalp the session if Usman Khawaja hadn’t dropped Jadeja on six off, as another day of Test cricket, where15 wickets fell, came to an end.
Brief Scores:
India:185 and 141/6 in 32 overs (Rishabh Pant 61; Scott Boland 4-42)
Australia: 181 in 50 overs (Beau Webster 57, Steve Smith 33; Prasidh Krishna 3-42, Mohammed Siraj 3-51)
India leads by 145 runs.
