Watch cricket video highlights of India tour of Australia 2024. 3rd Test between Australia and India. Venue of the match will be Brisbane.
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With their final-wicket combination scoring an incredible, unbeaten 39 to lead their side above the follow-on line, India took a huge stride towards departing Brisbane with the Border-Gavaskar Trophy still tied. Due to Josh Hazlewood’s calf issue, which has kept him out of this Test match and perhaps the remainder of the series, Australia’s prospects of winning this third Test have significantly decreased with one day of play left. His two excellent fast-bowling friends took on a tremendous task in Hazlewood’s absence, taking 60% of India’s innings in 74.5 overs.
With Mitchell Starc taking three wickets and Pat Cummins taking four. However, they were unable to prevent India from surpassing the magic number of 246. The entire toll of facing a weakened attack with an old ball on a ground that is primarily used for new-ball cricket was taken by Ravindra Jadeja, who contributed 77 superbly managed runs, and KL Rahul, who survived a missed chance off the first ball of the day, a premonition of Australia’s fortunes, and went on to score 84.
However, India was still 33 runs shy of forcing Australia to bat again when Cummins removed Jadeja with a clean short ball. Then, reflecting Australia’s precarious situation, Akash Deep partnered Jasprit Bumrah in a partnership of incredible certainty. Bumrah finished the day with a control percentage of 86 and Akash 90. It also demonstrated the pair’s batsmanship and tenacity. Akash finished on 27 off 31 after hitting two fours and a six, while Bumrah struck Cummins for six on his way to 10 from 27 balls.
After Akash slashed Cummins over a jumping gully fielder, India passed the follow-on mark. After two balls, he sent him for a huge six over wide long-on after clearing his front leg. After one more ball, the umpires called the players off the field for poor lighting, making it the final scoring attempt of the day. Although not as much as on day three, it was nevertheless another stop-start day at the Gabba, and if it prevented Australia’s exhausted assault from tiring, it also cost them more playing time. Throughout the day, just 57.5 overs were feasible.
By the time it was all over, Australia was left to wreck things at the start. Rahul fended the opening ball of the day straight to Steven Smith at second slip as Cummins reared at him in the corridor. This time, the ball just bounced off the heels of Smith’s hands, despite the fact that he is one of the greatest slip fielders in the world, as he would later prove. Soon after, Cummins smashed a brilliant one-two to dismiss Rohit Sharma. Before he could make contact with a pull, he zipped a short ball past his ribs. He then pushed the ball outside of stump and full.
Rohit ended up edging his attempted drive to the keeper since he was too far forward to play this ball safely and had his front shoulder too exposed. India had just faced 23.3 overs and were already 74 for 4. However, they were soothed by Jadeja’s arrival, and he settled into an innings during which his control % remained in the mid-90s. Although it helped that the ball stopped seaming and bouncing as awkwardly as it had when it was new and that Hazlewood left the field shortly after Jadeja arrived after bowling just one over.
Jadeja batted with a well-planned strategy that made the most of his situation. There were lots of checked drives down the ground with a vertical bat and a full face, many of flicks off his legs, but very little through the covers with an angled bat. His wagon wheel against the quick bowlers offered a clear indication of it. He also had to deal with a lot of bowling from Lyon, who is frequently his archenemy at home. However, on this lively Gabba surface, Jadeja’s strategy of defending with bat and pad close together.
Which makes him an LBW contender on Indian wickets, was much less of a problem. He also hit three singles and two fours with the sweep, a stroke he isn’t very good at. India started to cut into their lead as Rahul looked more and more reliable at the other end and put away many lovely off-side drives. Smith then made up for his previous mistake with a superb dive to his right to catch the thick edge with one hand as Rahul formed for the back-cut off Lyon. Smith had stepped to his right in preparation. Rahul and Jadeja had both gained 67.
In order to prevent the follow-on, it pulled together India’s all-rounders with 105 remaining. India’s bowling may have lacked depth as a result of the inclusion of both Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, which might have led to their 445 loss. However, it now provided them with the batting to attempt to salvage this Test match. Reddy’s outstanding performance in this series continued when he was required to bat conventionally and display his defensive side rather than counterattack.
Before Cummins hit with a delivery that was over 60 overs old, his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate Reddy inside-edged onto his stumps after the seventh-wicket partnership put up 53. Running on fumes, Starc and Cummins removed Mohammed Siraj and Jadeja, who successfully bounced out while attempting to farm the strike, bringing India’s required score down to 33 with one wicket left. As demonstrated by Bumrah and Akash Deep, Australia was close but not quite there.
