MELBOURNE: India got a foot in the door of the second Test after they reduced Australia to 133 for six wickets in their second innings at the end of third day’s play in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday. The Aussies are ahead of India by just two runs and have four wickets in hand. India are yet to bat in the second innings.
The Tim Paine-led side, which had dismissed India for 326 and restricted the lead to 131 runs early on the third day, however, found the going tough in the second innings as it kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
The Aussies eventually found themselves at 99 for the loss of six wickets at one point and in danger of losing the game by an innings. But Cameron Green (17*) and Pat Cummins (15*) played crucial knocks to help Australia stay afloat in the game after the Indian bowlers ran through the hosts’ top-order on Monday.
At stumps, Australia’s score read 133 for 6 wickets—lead by 2 runs—as India kept a tight rein on the hosts’ batsmen and did not allow them to settle. With the Indian tail once again failing to contribute much, India ended their first innings on 326. But with a lead of 130 in the bag, the visiting bowlers came out all guns blazing to ensure that the hosts never really hit the accelerator in their second innings. After the top-order collapsed, it was Green and Cummins’ resilience that ensured that the horror of an innings defeat was avoided after their score read 99/6 at one stage with skipper Tim Paine sent back to the pavilion by Ravindra Jadeja.
With another 31 runs needed to make India bat again and just 4 wickets left, the game was spoilt to go either ways. But the duo of Green and Cummins put their foot down and battled it out.
Australia witnessed a poor start to their second innings as Umesh Yadav dismissed Joe Burns in the fourth over, bringing in Marnus Labuschagne to join Matthew Wade. Both provided their side with some momentum till Ravichandran Ashwin cut short their partnership by dismissing Labuschagne (28).
Labuschagne’s dismissal brought Steve Smith out in the middle. Smith’s (8) poor run continued as he could not contribute much and Jasprit Bumrah sent him packing in the 33rd over. When the team was two runs short of touching the 100-run mark, Australia lost the wicket of Wade, who played a knock of 40 from 137 balls. Mohammed Siraj then got hold of Travis Head as half of Australia’s side was sent back to the pavilion. From 98/3, the score suddenly read 99/6 with Paine’s dismissal.
Earlier, resuming day at 277/5, India got off to a decent start but just when things appeared to be going well for the visitors, skipper Ajinkya Rahane got run out while attempting a risky single. Jadeja though kept picking the runs as he hit his 15th half-century and India extended their lead over 100. However, in an attempt to add some quick runs, Jadeja went for the big shot off Mitchell Starc and found Cummins in the deep.
Umesh and Ashwin then stitched a brief stand of 19 runs before India lost their third wicket of the day. But that was the beginning of the end as the tail just didn’t wag.
Brief Scores: Australia 195 and 133/6 (Matthew Wade 40, Marnus Labuschagne 28; Jadeja 2/25); India 326 (Ajinkya Rahane 112, Ravindra Jadeja 57; Nathan Lyon 3/72)
The Tim Paine-led side, which had dismissed India for 326 and restricted the lead to 131 runs early on the third day, found the going tough in the second innings as it kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
