Watch cricket video highlights of India tour of Australia 2024. 4th Test between Australia and India. Venue of the match will be Melbourne.
Copyright – Third Party Reference Inline Linking Embedded Video from Youtube
Report
Australia grabbed control of the fourth Test as Steven Smith put up an impressive total with his second hundred in a row, and local hero Scott Boland was part of a late push on the second day in Melbourne. After responding with a century stand, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal both collapsed in a thrilling last 30 minutes, leaving India with a mountain to climb. When Jaiswal drove steadily to mid-on and started running, Kohli didn’t react, and Pat Cummins’ throw was unbeatable, indicating that he had entered the 80s.
After Boland got Kohli’s outside edge two overs later, the MCG went into a frenzy, and it suddenly seemed unlikely that they would achieve anything like parity in the first innings. With minutes left, Boland had nightwatcher Akash Deep removed at leg gully as India lost 3 for 6 to end Australia’s day. For India, it was a day that began and finished poorly. Australia amassed 143 runs off 27 overs in the morning despite their lackluster performance in the field.
Smith, who reached his 34th Test century and came within 51 runs of 10,000 Test runs, and Cummins combined to add 112 for the seventh wicket. After Rohit Sharma, who had risen back to the top of the order, spooned a short ball into the hands of mid-on, Cummins struck in his opening over of India’s reply. This left him with 155 runs at 11.07 in his last 14 innings with series scores of 3, 6, 10, and 3. There will probably be further discussion about whether his Test career will continue past Sydney.
With a brilliant delivery to castle KL Rahul, Cummins added to his hall of fame wickets as India was 51 for 2 at tea. While Kohli tried to channel Smith’s recent form comeback, Jaiswal, who had yet to contribute in a first innings of this series due to issues against Mitchell Starc, gave the Indian supporters encouragement in front of a record second-day crowd of 85,147. Jaiswal was unafraid to take on the short ball with ramps over the slips and drive magnificently down the ground, much like he had done in the 161 in Perth.
In order to reach the half-century and had his eyes set on a hundred when his innings ended abruptly, he first hit Mitchell Marsh’s medium pace over long-on for six before cutting Boland for a boundary. Jaiswal made the decision, although it always appeared to be a very close race. Kohli was seldom out of his crease. Before he shattered the stumps, Cummins quietly handed the ball to Carey, who was celebrating. The day after receiving a punishment for making shoulder contact with Sam Konstas, Kohli began his bat with a determined expression.
Although he did unleash one flawless cover drive, Kohli left plenty alone as Australia’s quicks attempted to entice him after a string of dismissals pushing deliveries away from his body. Kohli sent Starc a forceful flip through midwicket as he veered onto the pads. But in the end, the channel outside proved to be his undoing, and maybe Jaiswal’s runout had an impact as well. After an opening day that was dominated by Konstas’ innings, Australia had returned to the field with 311 for 6.
They started off well against an India team that looked lackluster as nine runs came off the first over. Even though Smith was able to hook Jasprit Bumrah for the fourth six he gave up in the innings, he was still a threat, but as the home team coasted along, scoring was easy elsewhere. Smith took on the struggling Mohammed Siraj, who gave up more than five runs per over, after reaching his century with a flawless cover drive off Nitesh Kumar Reddy. It was just as fluid as Smith has seen in a long time—possibly as far back as the idyllic days of 2019.
The Australia skipper demonstrated his ability to be dangerous when playing with positivity by raising the century stand with Cummins in 21 overs. When Cummins picked out long-off against Ravindra Jadeja, who also claimed Starc just after lunch, he came within one run of his fourth Test fifty. When Smith charged at Akash Deep in the following over, he somehow pulled into his stumps, edged into his pads, and watched helplessly as the ball trickled back to remove the leg bail. However, he now has a decent opportunity of reaching one of cricket’s highest peaks before the end of this series, with up to three innings left against India.
