Australia outplayed India by 184 runs in the extremely competitive fourth Test to do a 2-1 clean sweep in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Australian bowlers who performed well were Pat Cummins and Scott Boland, each having three wickets to their credit, though Nathan Lyon took two wickets. Australia overran the Indian batting lineup in the third session with its relentless bowling display, which buried the Indians’ lower order.
The breakthrough was achieved when Australian captain Pat Cummins got rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal after he had been a rock on the crease for 208 balls while scoring 84 runs. Jaiswal got out while trying to hit a big shot, which made India’s lower order vulnerable. Washington Sundar was the last-named take for India at that point.
Earlier, Rishabh Pant came hard on attack and showed good character before getting out in a disastrous fashion in the first hour of the third session. Earlier, Pant, who forged an 88-run stand with Jaiswal, perished while trying to hit Travis Head out of the ground only to be caught in the deep. This dismissal broke the back of the Indian defense, and soon thereafter, Ravindra Jadeja was cleaned bowled by Scott Boland, and Nitish Kumar Reddy was taken by Nathan Lyon.
Australia had been shocked by India’s fightback in the second session of the game. Jaiswal and Pant were able to look solid as both batsmen batted and kept the Australian pace bowling attack at bay. The good news was that no wickets were lost in this session. India, being set a target of 340, was hanging in by the skin of the teeth, thanks to Jaiswal, who batted sensibly, and Pant, who, again, showed some resilience.
Earlier in the day, Cummins cleaned up Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul during the first session of the game. The Indian openers had shown good intention despite some unplayable early deliveries bowled by Mitchell Starc and Cummins. What is more, Rohit, who was playing with confidence, crumbled and was dismissed for nine runs.
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