India mounting a spirited fightback on day three of the fourth Border Gavaskar Test against Australia in Melbourne off Nitish Kumar Reddy’s maiden Test century. He was not out on 105 in 176 balls, and India was dismissed for 358/9 in 116 overs before stumps on the third day, with 116 runs behind Australia’s first-inning aggregate. Reddy played a spirited innings at a time when the Indian team was in deep trouble 191/6. Reddy then came into the fore after the dismissal of Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja to rebuild a successful partnership with the lower-order batsman Washington Sundar, who also scored a crucial fifty.
The team stood by this pair, and it was the combination that helped India steady things up and get to a stage where they were able to stage a rescue act. Their test of Melbourne bowlers, who bowled great lines and lengths, enabled India to come out of a tricky situation. It came down to the last wicket of Reddy, who will continue his interrupted knock on the final morning with Mohammed Siraj, who is on 2*.
India was put in a spot of bother right early in the day following the dismissal of Pant and Jadeja. Again at lunch, India had been bowled out to 244 for seven, and they still needed 230 runs to avoid follow-on. At the break, Reddy was on a precarious 40 off 61 balls, but he rallied in the second session to make amends. India alarmed some avoidable risks, especially in-between the wickets, which created tension, such as two count issues between Pant and Jadeja. But then, Reddy looked composed and played a reverse to ensure that the innings did not end.
In the first session, Australia gained the upper hand, getting India to be among their last couple of batting-standing players. Nevertheless, the ton by Reddy and the contribution by Sundar allowed the Indian team to play till the last inning and have a slight chance to level the series.
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