Nathan McSweeney hit a magnificent 10*, and Usman Khawaja supported him well by scoring 9* of a small target of 19 on Day 3 as Australia won the match with a ten wicket margin and the Border Gavaskar Trophy series becoming level at 1-1. The comprehensive victory was driven by another magnificent show by test captain Pat Cummins, who took his 13th test five-wicket haul as India were bundled out for 175 runs in the second innings before the start of the 3rd day. Technically, though Nitish Kumar Reddy’s battling 42 has provided India with a narrow 18-run lead, it was just too small to put up any sort of challenge against the hosts.
India failed to come back as Australia had taken over the command on Day 2 on the Adelaide Oval. Their bowlers made sure that no big stands could be formed, and by the end of the second day, India was all out by 29 runs. High expectations of India, based on Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy, immediately vanished on the third day as Australia’s bowlers continued to put pressure on India all game long.
Skipper Pat Cummins admitted that there was a lot of all-round effort in this win and spoke highly of Mitchell Starc and Travis Head. Head’s innings turned the game on its head for Australia, while Starc was once again brilliant with the ball. Cummins said, “It was a great week; this is how we want to play. The fifer was good for me; the wickets are crucial. Starc has been magnificent; he has done it repeatedly for ten years now. Travis Head came up with amazing innings when we could have lost this match, and Scotty was bowling well, too. Next week, hopefully, we’ll see Josh again.”
After watching this series, it now becomes a 1-1 encounter, and some very interesting cricketing action is expected in the decider. The two teams will then be expected to give their very best in what can be expected to be an enticing clash.
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