Here’s Geoff Lemon’s report from day five of an incredible Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Australia have won an all-time classic Test, taking seven wickets in the final session at the MCG to defeat India by 184 runs and go 2-1 up in the Border-Gavaskar series. In front of a record overall attendance for a Test in Australia of 373,691, the hosts had to get past India’s defiant star opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (84 from 208), who was dramatically dismissed by Pat Cummins.
Veteran spinner Nathan Lyon (2 for 39), who has struggled during this series, took the final wicket with 39 minutes left and 12 overs remaining to seal an extraordinary win. India went to tea at 112 for three, seemingly set to hold on for a draw, but Cummins (3 for 28), Scott Boland (3 for 39), Lyon, and even Travis Head (1 for 14), contributed with the ball in the final session to trigger a collapse of 43 for 7.
Australia will regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time since 2014-15 if they win, or draw, the series decider at the SCG, starting on Friday. Victory for India and a series drawn 2-2 would allow the tourists to retain the trophy.
It will be the first time a Test series in Australia heads to its finale with a trophy up for grabs since India toured here in 2003-04. – Australian Associated Press
LYON DOES IT!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2024
What a remarkable win for Australia! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/SGbA3R797X
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Strewth. That was epic. I hope you enjoyed the Guardian’s over-by-over coverage. On behalf of the G-forces, we thank you for your company and email correspondence. I will sign off now, with the sniff of Geoff Lemon’s match report on the breeze. Stay tuned for that and stay safe in the four-day frenzy between here and the Sydney Test on Friday.
Farewell for now and long live Test cricket!
Pat Cummins has won the Johnny Mullagh medal for Player of the Boxing Day Test and Captain Colgate is flashing those pearly whites, delighted with his side’s 2-1 series lead.
What an amazing Test match, I reckon one of the best I’ve been part of. All week the crowd has been ridiculous, and it’s been amazing to be part of.
Winning the toss, it wasn’t easy on the first day, to get up to high 400s was terrific. We wanted to take an India victory out of the equation. We had plenty of runs to play with, and as many helmets around the bat as we could.
Amazing innings from Steve… [Smith] just showed how to bat on that wicket. He was brilliant, and some handy catches, sometimes that goes unnoticed in the slips.
We put a lot of work into our lower-order batting, how best to bowl to the opposition batters, but also how we can contribute with the bat. We were a bit behind on over rate, so thought, ‘Get Trav in there, it may help us out’.
Very happy change room, we’ll savour this before we get to Sydney.
India captain Rohit Sharma is on the mike post-match. He says India were gunning for victory today not grinding out a draw.
It is pretty disappointing. It’s not that we went in with the intent of giving up the fight. We wanted to fight till the end and unfortunately we couldn’t do it.
It’ll be tough to assess just the last two sessions. If you look at the overall Test match, we had our chances, but we didn’t take them. We had Australia 90 for 6. We know things can get tough, but we want to play tough cricket from hard situations. I don’t want to look at one situation. We were not good enough. I went back to my room and thought about what else we could have done as a team, but we threw everything we had. But they fought hard, especially that last-wicket partnership, which probably cost us the game.
We knew 340 wasn’t going to be easy. We tried to set a platform and keep wickets in hand for the last two sessions, but they bowled perfectly as well. We wanted to go for the target, but we didn’t set the platform from our side. There are ways to win games and we fell short in finding ways to win games.
Darryl Accone, torchbearer for the great Barry Richards, chimes in from South Africa:
Australia’s famous victory at the MCG takes me back to the days before Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman took the fight to the foe, followed by Pujara and Kohli showing adamantine implacability in almost every situation. But today is an old-style India collapse that’s just reward for Captain Pat’s very likeable bunch of green-baggy blokes (perhaps not Lyon: ask AB de Villiers). More proof - if any were ever needed - thst no amount of IPL spectacle and frippery can beat Test cricket, the one and only.
“Adamantine implacability”? I’ll give you some points on that one, Darryl!
In the frenzy of those final overs, a squall of emails has eluded me.
Neel Pai emails from Bengaluru:
Loving your OBO coverage. Really happy with this exciting Test and its various twists and turns. Disappointed that India is going to lose but it’s what we need. Perhaps a loss will shock us into dropping some deadwood, specifically Rohit Sharma and Kohli. Both have underperformed and require some replacing if we want to salvage anything from this series.
AUSTRALIA WIN FOURTH TEST BY 184 RUNS
What a victory for Australia! It was five days of brilliance, drama and entertainment. Both sides threw plenty of punches and there were spectacular performances from players on both sides. But in the end Australia showed the mettle to clinch it. They will now go to the final Test in Sydney with a 2-1 lead in the series and one hand on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The man of the first hour was debutant Sam Konstas. His freewheeling 60 was the stuff of dreams (and nightmare for King Kohli who stooped to shoulder charging the fresh prince). It set the tone for Australia who attacked from the get-go. That mentality unleashed Steve Smith who stroked a second successive Test century – a glorious 140 – as Australia plundered a formidable 474 for the first innings.
India, as they have all series, refused to yield. Jasprit Bumrah bowled with guile and courage to take 4 for 99. His batters backed it up with Yashavsi Jaiswal blazing 82 and Nitish Kumar Reddy scoring his first Test century with a rollicking 114 as India crawled to within 105 runs of the hosts’ first innings total.
Australia had the upper hand as they started their second innings but a flurry of Bumrah uppercuts gave India sniff of an unlikely victory as the devastating quick tore through the top-order. Bumrah took 5 for 99 as Marnus Labuschagne scrapped 70 but Australia’s salvation came in the unlikely form of Nos 10 and 11, Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland, who defied India in the shadows of day four to compile a 55-run partnership and set India a 340-run mountain to climb.
With India only requiring two draws to hang onto the Trophy, day five was an arm wrestle. Australia shot from the blocks and struck early blows with Pat Cummins striking twice in an over. Again India repelled them in the middle sessions through Jaiswal on his way to 82. But the pressure soon told. Once Australia broke through the middle order, India melted. Cumins took three and Boland, on his home track, got three of his own.
Before the biggest crowd in Australian cricket history, Australia won a famous Test match and now have the wind at their back and the fickle Sydney weather in their favour as they look to close out the series in the final Test starting Friday.
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WICKET! Siraj lbw Lyon 0 (India 155-10)
Siraj is gone. Lyon clinches it. Australia win! WHAT A TEST MATCH!
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79th over: India 154-8 (Sundar 5, Bumrah 0) Australia can take the new ball next over. Will they need it? They have No 11 Mohammed Siraj at the crease and Nathan Lyon on the hunt for the coup de grace. HUGE APPEAL! It looks dead straight. Umpire says yes but India will review.
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WICKET! Bumrah c Smith b Boland 0 (154-9)
Boland strikes again! Bumrah is gone and Australia are one wicket from victory in the fourth Test and a 2-1 lead in this series. Again Boland found extra pace and bounce from this MCG wicket that he knows so well. It was on a lethal length ball in the corridor of uncertainty and there’s a little seam movement that drew Bumrah forward to defend. It caught a thick edge and Smith dived forward to take a smart catch to his left.
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78th over: India 154-8 (Sundar 5, Bumrah 0) We are into the final hour and it is a desperate one for India. Sean Abbott is on the field as a substitute and he dons a helmet like six of his teammates. The entire Australian side is crowding the bat as Lyon probes away outside off stump. Heavy pressure for Sundar but he survives the over.
Tanay Padhi has weighed in on the debate over Jaiswal’s dimissal: “Seems to me the umpire did the right thing. The technology is supposed to aide the human’s decision-making, while allowing room for common sense to be applied. We can fully automate it once there’s a technical approach with extremely reliability, such as with goal line technology in football.”
Agree, Tanay. Common sense has prevailed.
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News just in from Cricket Australia…
Final Day 5 attendance is 74,362. That means the total attendance of 373,691 is the greatest for any Test match at the MCG exceeding the total of 350,534 v England in 1937 over six days. It is also the greatest attendance for any Test match played in Australia.
Well played, Melbourne!
WICKET! Deep c Head b Boland 7 (India 150-8)
Scott Boland strikes again! The barrel-chested Victorian has an uncanny knack of getting wickets with the first ball of a new spell and he’s done it again. India don’t like it and the umpire didn’t respond. But replays do show a deflection from bat to pad so Akash Deep is OUT!
Scott Boland claims the wicket of Akash Deep after a review. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/SDdtacmg1o
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2024
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77th over: India 150-7 (Sundar 5, Akash 7) Big appeal first ball! Boland has ripped it in short and Akash fended with a distinctly woody sound to Head who took the catch close-in. Umpire is unmoved but Australia will review and look very confident…
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76th over: India 150-7 (Sundar 5, Akash 7) Sundar squirts two from Lyon’s first ball. The baggy green banter is incessant now. They are urging Lyion on, appraising every ball and strategising the next, all deployed as deadly ear worms for the Indian batters.
Dan Bowes is enjoying the best of both worlds, attending the United Cup tennis at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney while following our OBO of the Test in Melbourne. “I hate to say it as an Englishman but you’d always back Australia in a clutch situation,” he says.
75th over: India 147-7 (Sundar 3, Akash 7) Sundar takes a single first ball. Interesting. Cummins won’t mind that. Maybe he even intended it. No fielders on the fence now, 10 hungry Australians around the bat. Cummins whistles one past the shoulder of Deep’s bat. The fourth one is a yorker that slides down the leg side and Deep gets a splinter on it to bank four. Another yorker to close but Deep is up to the challenge. 17 overs to go.
74th over: India 143-7 (Sundar 2, Akash 2) Lyon turning the ball – and the screws. There are sevn close-in fielders swarming Akash Deep and a huge crowd riding every delivery. They yelp when Deep squirts one close to Travis Head’s groping left hand. Close!
73rd over: India 143-7 (Sundar 2, Akash 3) India are grimly hanging on but Cummins is at their throat. He has 3-22 from his 16 overs and has set a menacing field around Washington Sundar: three slips, a leg gully, a back pad, short leg and silly point. The Australians are chirping away with Steve Waugh’s “mental disintegration” banter. But it’s brilliant bowling and rash strokeplay that is undoing India.
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72nd over: India 142-7 (Sundar 2, Akash 2) As debate rages, former umpire Simon Taufel is saying on the TV that the correct decision was made and that conclusive video overrules inconclusive audio. Ricky Ponting is doubling down, saying it’s hit Jaiswal’s glove and bat. Meanwhile, Starc is bowling and Akash Deep has come to the crease. It’s the first time YL Jaiswal has been dismissed between 81 and 160 in his career.
WICKET! Jaiswal c Carey b Cummins 84 (India 140-7)
Cummins strikes! Jaiswal is gone and we have controversy erupting as replays show a clear deflection but nothing on Snicko. Jaiswal is arguing the point as he trudges off but it’s OUT. The young man has certainly changed his tune. He looked guilty after the appeal and even started walking toward the sheds. Replays showed a ricochet off the glove. Still, not a tremor on Snicko. Indian fans jeering. Australian fans cheering.
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71st over: India 140-6 (Jaiswal 84, Sundar 2) Cummins momentarily loses his laser focus to stray down the leg side. Jaiswal pounces and runs it fine for two. Now Jaiswal hooks at a short ball and it looks to catch the glove! Umpire responds in the negative. Incredulous, Cummins reviews. Jaiswal looks very guilty and quite distraught…
70th over: India 138-6 (Jaiswal 82, Sundar 2) Blood in the water? Bring back Starc. He brings a face of anguish to the first ball of his 15th over. That injured grunter muscle now comes with a grimace every delivery. Sundar won’t bite at the wide ones and can’t pierce the field to the straight ones. An attempted bouncer on the fifth but it’s 140kph and sails through at shoulder height. A yorker on the last almost gets through. Almost.
Sean Boucher has emailed to ask “What pain relief are cricketers allowed to use by international cricket rules? Sounds like Starc needs an injection like AFL players get to ignore the pain and smash these Indians.”
69th over: India 138-6 (Jaiswal 82, Sundar 2) Cometh the hour, cometh the man called Cummins. Captain Pat sends a scorching bouncer whistling past Jaiswal’s grille first up. The sequel is right in the channel but too close to the body to chop at. Cummins targets the legs, no discernible swing. Another bouncer. Jaiswal has now survived over 200 balls, a small payback perhaps for his three dropped catches yesterday. A diving Mitchell Marsh saves an edge that might’ve run for four. Screws turning on India.
68th over: India 138-6 (Jaiswal 82, Sundar 2) Here’s the equation: For victory, Australia need four wickets and India need 202 runs. We have 25 overs to play. The home side are four balls from victory and India are 150 balls from safety. Nathan Lyon bowls a maiden, the fourth of his 17 overs so far.
67th over: India 138-6 (Jaiswal 82, Sundar 2) Boland thunders in to Jaiswal. It’s short and Jaiswal fends it off where Konstas fields close-in and threatens to shy from two yards out. Commentators are crediting Konstas for this clatter of wickets. He’s chuntering away, tickling the turf as the bowler runs in, raising his arms to encourage the crowd clap. It’s a heathen brew of teenage irritations and it’s getting under the Indian skins. Finally Jaiswal finds relief, working Boland off the hip for two. With the pressure valve off he drives a lovely four down the ground. He’s into the eighties.
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66th over: India 132-6 (Jaiswal 76, Sundar 2) Australia are pushing for victory. India look rattled after that tumble of dismissals and Lyon draws another edge from Sundar. It falls short of Smith. The crowding of the batter has gone up a notch with Konstas at silly point and Head at short leg. Even Pat Cummins has put on the helmet and is standing mid-pitch. It works. A maiden. Heat and noise rising at the MCG!
65th over: India 132-6 (Jaiswal 76, Sundar 2) Boland draws three dots from Jaiswal, the last a seriously big swish. With the loss of three quick wickets, Jasiwal has lost his cool. Konstas has been chirping and grinning at silly mid-off and it almost seems as through Jaiswal is aiming these big shots at him. Boland beats him on the fifth and retrieves a hard-hit drive on the last to preserve the maiden.
64th over: India 128-6 (Jaiswal 73, Sundar 2) Dropped?! No, new batter Washington Sundar has driven it into Sam Konstas’s leg. Lyon has his hands on his stubbly bonce in exasperation. That was close! Konstas is standing very close too. Too close to catch those chances perhaps? Sundar drives for two from the last. MCG is humming now!
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WICKET! Nitish c Smith b Lyon 1 (India 130-6)
Nathan Lyon STRIKES! It floated and fizzed, gripped and shot straight on. A little edge from Nitish and Steve Smith sprawled to his left to take a brilliant catch. Australia are officially on a tear. One more wicket and they’re into the Indian tailenders.
Do not go anywhere, this Test has turned up a notch!
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2024
Steve Smith with a beauty 😱 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/cgJeQSGcRK
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WICKET! Jadeja c Carey b Boland 2 (India 127-5)
Scott Boland strikes! The first ball of his spell was wide but the second ball was lethal. It sprang off the pitch and went straight for Jadeja’s throat. The new batter flinched and fended and it kissed the edge and flew to Carey. Another breakthrough for Australia!
63rd over: India 130-6 (Jaiswal 76, Nitish 1) Wonderful bowling by Boland and excellent captaincy by Pat Cummins to soften up the Indians with spin before prickling them with pace. Nitish Kumar Reddy, India’s centurion in the first innings, is the new batter. He will sell his wicket dearly. Have Australia devised a plan for him in the last 36 hours?
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63rd over: India 126-4 (Jaiswal 73, Jadeja 2) The stage is set for last gasp heroics. Enter Scott Boland, the man who tore England asunder with 6 for 7 on debut at this ground in 2021. Jaiswal cuts him for a single straight up.
62nd over: India 126-4 (Jaiswal 73, Jadeja 2) India need 214 runs to win. Not that they’re trying to. A draw here would keep the clamps on at 1-1 and Sydney’s fickle meteorology might take care of the rest. Lyon wheels into his 14th over, probing and pushing. Australia has a ring of close-in fielders crowding Jadeja. It pressures a maiden.
61st over: India 126-4 (Jaiswal 73, Jadeja 2) Head waddles into his fifth over. He starts it with 1-10 and bristling with brio after claiming his 14th Test wicket. He averages a respectable 31 with the ball and has a best of 4-10. What Australia would give for a four-for today. Instead, Jaiswal take Head for a couple of singles each.
60th over: India 121-4 (Jaiswal 69, Jadeja 0) Ravindra Jadeja is the new batter, a formidable cricketer with bat and ball. Nathan Lyon has 0-32 but his tail is up after that Pant dismissal. Four dots before Jaiswal gets a single driving to long on.
WICKET! Pant c Marsh b Head 30 (India 120-4)
A long hop from Head, a big but loose shot from Pant, a great tumbling catch by Marsh on the boundary! That wicket came from nowhere but it could open the floodgates. Rishabh Pant, an aggressor by nature, had been toiling hard for his 30 from 104 balls. But a rush of blood to the head has given this Test the twist it needed. Game on!
Travis Head gets Rishabh Pant and pulls out a unique celebration 👀#AUSvIND | #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/EVvcmaiFv7
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 30, 2024
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59th over: India 120-3 (Jaiswal 69, Pant 30) Head continues and Jaiswal works a single. India are grinding out the draw they want here.
58th over: India 120-3 (Jaiswal 69, Pant 30) Konstas cops one but stops one at silly mid-off. Grab a catch there and his national hero status is enhanced by another 20,000 followers. Five dots and a single from this Lyon over.
57th over: India 119-3 (Jaiswal 68, Pant 30) Australia are three overs behind so Head will continue in a bid to catch up. Over rates cost Australia a qualification in the first World Test Championship final so Pat Cummins isn’t leaving anything to chance. Three singles from the over. With Head bowling, Sam Konstas is under the lid at silly mid-off.
56th over: India 116-3 (Jaiswal 66, Pant 29) Australia are rattling through the overs as Lyon goes for a single from Jaiswal before Pant is beaten by two fizzers at the end. Noice Gary!
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55th over: India 115-3 (Jaiswal 65, Pant 29) A gentle start to what could be a torrid session as Head is worked for three singles and three dots. Where’s Captain Pat?
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A bit of news from Cricket Australia as players return to the MCG…
Jhye Richardson has been released from the Australian men’s squad to be available for the Perth Scorchers’ BBL match against the Adelaide Strikers on Tuesday. Richardson will then return to the squad for the fifth Test match against India in Sydney.
A historic day at the MCG. We have officially created a new attendance record for Test cricket in Australia… and bested Bradman into the bargain.
Today, I’m reliably told, is Monday. Hard to believe we have another Test beginning on Friday, given the weariness on the faces and within the bones of the players right now. What have Sydney’s weather gods got in store? Showers forecast for Test-eve Thursday with a 75% chance of storms on day four, rising to 95% with lightning on day five.
What’s the opposite of a rain dance? I’m gonna get Raygun onto it.
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54th over: India 112-3 (Jaiswal 63, Pant 28) Oh god, now it’s me wincing in pain. Marnus Labuschagne has been thrown the ball. He starts with three short balls down leg side, none of which Rishabh can be bothered playing at. This is absurd. Three more “bouncers” follow, none faster than 125kph. Could be the worst over I’ve seen since Rod Marsh was given a bowl in his final Test. That’s tea. Put a slug of Jamesons in mine.
53rd over: India 112-3 (Jaiswal 63, Pant 28) Starc is visibly wincing after every delivery with that rib niggle. I believe fast bowlers call it the “grunter muscle”. To whom would Australia turn if he can’t play in Sydney? Rishabh Pant prods the wound by working a wider ball fine to the boundary for four.
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52nd over: India 107-3 (Jaiswal 63, Pant 23) Pant cuts Lyon to point for a run but that’s it for this over. Not sure which team is under more pressure here. India or Australia?
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51st over: India 106-3 (Jaiswal 63, Pant 22) Starc enters his 13th over. If he’s bowling through pain he’s doing a good job of it, albeit still grabbing at his side and grimacing. He started this over with 1-17. seven maidens into the bargain. Jaiswal isn’t tempted by the first three but now rises to his toes to drive wide of mid-on for two runs. Sam Konstas could be in doubt for the fifth Test with a sprained wrist or lockjaw if he keeps signing autographs and grinning for selfies on the boundary. Was it England’s Derek Pringle forced out of an Ashes tour after injuring himself writing a letter home?
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50th over: India 104-3 (Jaiswal 61, Pant 22) Lyon continues, the singles continue. I’m not going to continue, Angus is coming in. Enjoy.
49th over: India 102-3 (Jaiswal 60, Pant 21) Travis Head to have a bowl, Australia at the stage of turning to more exotic options. A couple of singles, then Pant pulls away and dead ball is called. Eventually a third run is taken.
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48th over: India 99-3 (Jaiswal 59, Pant 19) A couple of singles from Lyon. So the cagey approach continues, they haven’t shut up shop completely but they’re not moving quickly at this stage. There are 44 overs left and 241 to win.
47th over: India 97-3 (Jaiswal 58, Pant 18) Last time India toured, Pujara played Pujara and Pant played Pant. Now, Pant is playing Pujara, wearing a Cummins bouncer on the shoulder to avoid any risk of getting his gloves involved. Cummins trying to provoke something from such a dangerous player. Pant stays calm, sways away from another one. No run from the over.
46th over: India 97-3 (Jaiswal 58, Pant 18) Lyon to Jaiswal, who cuts a run. Pant defends with the straightest bat, but finally relents from the sixth ball and takes a run through point.
45th over: India 95-3 (Jaiswal 57, Pant 17) Ok, I’m puzzled by this Pant approach. Boland comes on and Pant plays the same way as he did against Cummins, on the front foot blocking everything. Surely it’s possible to at least turn over strike and keep the Australians working? Even if the win itself is too distant to contemplate? Or is he biding his time for some predetermined point?
44th over: India 95-3 (Jaiswal 57, Pant 17) It’s Jaiswal doing the scoring, not Pant. Another two to deep cover. Has a heavy swing at another and misses. Pant comes down and tells him to relax. It doesn’t work, Jaiswal plays a similar shot two balls later, this one skidding on straight from Lyon and nearly taking an edge.
43rd over: India 93-3 (Jaiswal 55, Pant 17) Cummins, but now that Jaiswal has the cut shot going, he’ll play it. One run. Pant, on the other hand, has apparently decided that Cummins is the one to be kept out, and is still offering a dead bat to everything. He’s 17 off 53 balls by the end of the over.
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42nd over: India 92-3 (Jaiswal 54, Pant 17) Off spin, long on, single. A tale as old as time. That’s for Jaiswal, before Pant cuts three runs to cover. Jaiswal repeats his earlier bit.
50 overs left, 248 to get.
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41st over: India 87-3 (Jaiswal 52, Pant 14) Cummins after the break, unpleasant short ball that has Pant swaying back, but it’s an overstep. One more to the total. The only one from the over. Pant keeps reaching outside off to knock balls on the head.
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Half century! Jaiswal 50 from 128 balls
40th over: India 86-3 (Jaiswal 52, Pant 14) Still very little Pant-like stuff, just drives Lyon to long on for one despite the effort of the bowling leaping across. Jaiswal has just done the same, then having got back on strike, steps back and shovels a shot through midwicket and it will go for four. Not walloped, just placed, to reach fifty for the second time in the match. Follows up with a sweep for two. He battled through the tough stuff early and now he has up to 40 more overs before a new ball comes along. Can he do something special this afternoon?
Drinks. India need 254 from 52.
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39th over: India 78-3 (Jaiswal 45, Pant 13) Cummins to Jaiswal, who is strolling again and being beaten again. I’d love to see his play and miss stats today. Keeps out a yorker, smacks a wider ball behind point, but they have a sweeper back now, one run
“Why are players allowed to fiddle with the bails?” asks Kenrick Riley. “Swapping around etc for supposed good luck. I thought they were strictly the umpire’s domain? If I’d done that in backyard cricket I probably would have gone without lunch or had runs added to the other team.”
That’s a fair question. In the same way that the ball belongs to the fielding team, the umpires are the ones who tip the bails at a break or rebuild the stumps after they’re knocked down. Players touching them could raise questions of propriety. I think if I were umpiring I’d be warning off anybody who came near them.
38th over: India 77-3 (Jaiswal 44, Pant 13) Good ball from Lyon, turn away from the edge of Pant’s bat. Two left-handers for the off spinner to aim at. He gets respectfully treated by the Indian keeper, who is an uncharacteristic 13 from 36 balls. Beaten by the sixth ball as it slides on past the bat.
37th over: India 77-3 (Jaiswal 44, Pant 13) Cummins is back. Jaiswal takes one to point, Pant flicks to midwicket. Haven’t seen much of Konstas in the field today but he chases back and slides, two runs. A sprinted single to mid off, that’s sharp. Then Jaiswal drives attractively for two, past the other set of stumps, straight as you can get without the playing equipment interfering.
36th over: India 71-3 (Jaiswal 41, Pant 10) Lyon comes on. This could be interesting. Pant knocks a run, and yep, Jaiswal goes after him immediately, smashing a sweep shot for four. One more to mid off. They need 269 in 56 overs.
Andrew Jagels emailing. “Why can’t the Women’s Ashes be competed on a Test series basis rather than multi format? Surely the women are good enough athletes to cope with the format.”
The Women’s Ashes series will follow these India Tests as far as the Australian summer goes, so that’s timely. The short answer is money. It costs much more to stage a Test than to stage single-day matches, and the boards don’t want to pay for that more than once. On top of that, none of the boards have stumped up for domestic long-form cricket, so there’s the old dilemma of asking those players to perform at Test level internationally in a format in which they can’t develop their skills anywhere else. That would be exacerbated across a multiple Test series.
If boards would actually fund and promoted the project properly, things could be different.
35th over: India 65-3 (Jaiswal 36, Pant 9) A sniff ball from Starc, Jaiswal drops the gloves and lets it go by. Then misses, punching, back foot. Starc has another smile and a word. Scrambled seam decked that one away. A straighter bouncer sees him go under it. No run from the over.
34th over: India 65-3 (Jaiswal 36, Pant 9) A stutter in the running, Jaiswal sets off from the non-striker’s end, Pant sends him back. Boland from the southern end of the ground. Two slips and a gully for him, with a backward point. Cover is open. Deep backward square and long leg for the pull, the heave, the scoop.
None of that, Pant takes a single towards cover. Make that a double with an over throw. Make mine a triple, with another overthrow! Somehow that last ball evaded three players at cover when the throw came from backward square. Jaiswal works a run to midwicket. And it’s a no ball.
It’s fascinating. India are miles and miles behind, 275 to win, but the enthusiasm of the crowd with each run makes it feel like something is happening. It must make Australia feel like there’s some pressure. Even just a little. The atmosphere has changed.
33rd over: India 60-3 (Jaiswal 35, Pant 6) On the rise. Jaiswal leans back and whacks Starc through cover, gets three. Pant nearly plays on from the inside edge. A bit of chatter between Starc and Jaiswal at the non-striker’s end. Pant’s down, ducking a bouncer. Oh, they’ve got a short third slip now, wearing a helmet. Plus a fourth slip and a point. Pant drives to mid on and gets a run when Cummins doesn’t grab it cleanly on the dive.
32nd over: India 56-3 (Jaiswal 32, Pant 5) A little calm resumes with a couple of singles from Boland’s over. Just the 284 more to get in 60 overs. Don’t think about this like an ODI, because it ain’t one.
31st over: India 54-3 (Jaiswal 31, Pant 4) Looks like they are going to have a dash, then. Probably just with this pair, and then reconsider if a wicket falls. It’s Jaiswal cutting Starc this time, leaning back to go through backward point again. Then it’s Starc cutting Jaiswal in half! Back into him, back pad in front of middle, and Umpire Wilson gives it not out. Australia of course review, and that is the biggest umpire’s call result I’ve ever seen. It must be 49% of the ball hitting the leg stump vertically, and 49% of it hitting the leg bail horizontally. That would have had the leg stump impaling the wicketkeeper spinning back. But it’s an orange zone everywhere, so it’s not out, and Umpire Wilson’s perfect record in this match continues.
30th over: India 50-3 (Jaiswal 27, Pant 4) Goes again, Jaiswal! Boland again, cut shot again, four again. Then a single, before Pant gets moving in Pant fashion, down on one knee and dragging a cross-bat crash through midwicket. Four more. Have they decided at lunch to have a crack after all, or is this organic? They need 290 to win.
29th over: India 41-3 (Jaiswal 22, Pant 0) No run from Starc’s over to Pant, though Pant does think about it a couple of times playing to the leg side, and chases a wide ball outside off.
28th over: India 41-3 (Jaiswal 22, Pant 0) Jaiswal comes to life! Sees width from Boland and cuts it through the gully gap for four: fair enough, the shot was on. Enjoying that, he goes again next ball, this time up and over. Probably over about third slip, finer, but gets plenty on it. Back to back boundaries, as a sparkly balloon blows onto the ground.
27th over: India 33-3 (Jaiswal 14, Pant 0) We got one ball of this over before the lunch break, when Kohli had his swing, so we’ll finish the last five to Pant. Wonder how he’ll approach this? Hard to imagine him just blocking, but he doesn’t always play with all-out attack, contrary to the perception. I would imagine him looking at a situation like this as a chance to make a good score, and by doing that bat long enough to help his team. Can’t see him blocking all day. But we’ll see. He blocks the first bit.
“Greetings Geoff from a cold and dank London, was thinking of going to bed but now thinking of pulling an all nighter! Thanks for the commentary, it gives more colour than the TV output.”
I hope you’ve stayed with us, Johnson. Maybe a little nap during lunch. Set five alarms, one can be slept through.
More emails. “Just imagine how much better Cummins would be if he still had Justin Langer as coach.”
Stop it, Ross McGillivray.
Scott Oliver sent this just before Rohit got out. “Great session, this. Really high quality stuff from the Aussie quicks (and nuff swing). Given the WTC situation, might this be a day for Rohit to roll the dice and slide Rishabh Pant up to No.3, start throwing punches? If you don’t buy a ticket...”
Well, Pant will be walking in after lunch. But even he’s not getting 300 in two sessions. I do think India need to keep scoring to keep Australia on their toes. But Kohli’s technique was nowhere on that drive, and just before lunch wasn’t the time.
Lunch - India 33 for 3, trail by 306 runs
The chase is gone, not that it was ever there. They need to bat two sessions to draw. I keep thinking about that Kohli dismissal. It just felt like the shot of a player who’s gone. Why would he do that? After an hour of defending? That intense mental focus he once had does not appear to be working anymore.
Anyway. Plenty of batting left in India’s team, but plenty of batting for them to do.
WICKET! Kohli c Khawaja b Starc 5, India 33-3
Oh no. Goodness me, what was that. Just before lunch, wide from Starc, and after all of that defending, Kohli hurls an angled bat at it, wanting to lace it through cover, and edges to first slip.
26th over: India 33-2 (Jaiswal 14, Kohli 5) Nathan Lyon to have a go. Jaiswal on strike. SMith at slip, Head at short leg. Backward point, forward point, cover, long off, mid on, midwicket, deep backward square leg. Jaiswal shuffles out and drives to long off for one. Field swaps for the right-hander. Kohli wrists one through midwicket.
25th over: India 31-2 (Jaiswal 13, Kohli 4) Starc bounding up to Kohli, bowls a few straight at the stumps but they’re blocked back. Leaves a couple outside the line of off stump. Again no sign of trying to score. Lunch is coming up in six minutes.
24th over: India 31-2 (Jaiswal 13, Kohli 4) Oh no! A bye!
We had an unblemished record, but Carey keeping up to the stumps has ruined it. Marsh bowls down Kohli’s leg side and Carey can’t get across. Drop him. Both of them. It’s an outrage.
23rd over: India 30-2 (Jaiswal 13, Kohli 4) Starc comes back, but Jaiswal looks much more able to handle him this time around. Defends straight, leaves wide, gets on his toes to smother a shorter one. No attempt to score. So it looks like India have put away any thought of chasing these runs.
22nd over: India 30-2 (Jaiswal 13, Kohli 4) Marsh to Kohli, who picks up two more runs to the same area of the ground, off the pads.
21st over: India 28-2 (Jaiswal 13, Kohli 2) Huge cheer for Kohli’s first run. Off the pads behind square, after Jaiswal added one past mid on. Cummins the bowler. Oh, the bonanza continues, Kohli getting another one square of the wicket.
20th over: India 25-2 (Jaiswal 12, Kohli 0) Mitchell Marsh time! That’s unexpected. The heavy strides thunder in, angled across the lefty, decent length that keeps Jaiswal honest. Carey up to the stumps to keep Jaiswal at home. The Australians like a pair of stern parents. No score from the over.
19th over: India 25-2 (Jaiswal 12, Kohli 0) Cummins to Kohli, goes very full to begin with, and India’s battling champion blocks out the first two. Make that three, all in at the stumps. Outside the off stump is his current weakness, so perhaps Cummins is making sure he has to think twice. Deep backward square goes out, bumper field? No, length ball and climbing! Outside off stump but coming in off the scrambled seam, and Kohli plays it almost off the bat handle rather than blade. Nasty.
18th over: India 25-2 (Jaiswal 12, Kohli 0) So it’s the combo from the first innings, Jaiswal and Kohli, who produced that run out. Jaiswal blocks out a maiden from Boland.
WICKET! Rahul c Khawaja b Cummins 0, India 25-2
17th over: India 25-2 (Jaiswal 12) Two in the over! Sixth ball, Cummins gets India’s form player of the series. Scrambled seam, and it’s the extra bounce that this pitch is still offering. Rahul tries to play carefully, getting over the ball, bat angled back, but the extra bounce makes contact high on the blade, near the shoulder, and perhaps makes him tense up rather than having those soft hands he’s used all series. The edge flies to first slip.
Quite the game that Cummins is having. Three wickets in the first innings, 49 and 41 with the bat, now the first two wickets here.
WICKET! Rohit c Marsh b Cummins 9, India 25-1
First one falls! The captain plays towards midwicket but produces a flying edge to gully. Mitch Marsh takes the double-grabber, first attempt popping up from his hands, taken as he falls backward on the second. Rohit has done a bit of a job, getting through the really vicious early overs, but falls without a score. Does he play in Sydney? Is that it?
16th over: India 25-0 (Jaiswal 12, Rohit 9) Boland after drinks, and Rohit pushes a run, driving. Jaiswal does similar, picking a gap for two. Carey has just come up to the stumps for Jaiswal to stop him stepping out, and makes a spectacular take from a rising ball that he gloves in front of his face. Boland is operating at 136 kph on that final delivery, he’s not slow!
“Greetings Geoff,” writes John Butler. “In Geneva contemplating to watch now or sleep a bit and hopefully wake up and see the end of the game. Not sure why Australia batted on, don’t fancy India to go too fast with this run chase but I guess we can’t all have McCullum-Stokes.”
I will say that life is peaceful here without them. But yes, I would have preferred to see Australia bowling for half an hour last night at 290 ahead. The reasoning, presumably, is that they have more to lose ahead of Sydney. If Australia lose this Test they can’t get hold of the trophy, where India can lose this Test and still keep it. So they effectively batted the Indian win out of the equation, and narrowed the possibilities to Australian win or draw.
The flipside is the risk of having one bad day in Sydney and dropping the series.
15th over: India 22-0 (Jaiswal 10, Rohit 8) First attempt at the pull shot from Rohit. That got him out in the first innings. This time he under-edges it into his nuts. Safe to say it hasn’t been his friend yet in this Test match, but he does get contact from a second attempt, that dinky version like the one in the first innings, to fine leg for one.
Jaiswal hits firmly to mid off, then a square drive to the fielder behind point. Still can’t score. Defends the last ball though, nothing impulsive.
Drinks.
14th over: India 21-0 (Jaiswal 10, Rohit 7) Jaiswal is defending Boland as best he can, but still looking for runs. Gets refused by Rohit once, then tries another drive to cover that is stopped. He has great purpose, even at 10 from 49 balls.
13th over: India 21-0 (Jaiswal 10, Rohit 7) Cummins now, from the Members End, left by Jaiswal. We’re down to two slips now, with gully and backward point still there. Labuschagne to cover is the change. Maybe just to stop him appealing from the cordon. Inside edge! Nearly back onto the stumps, but it gets Jaiswal a run. Just trying to defend but with a slightly angled bat, and Cummins finds that spot, similar to the one that Kohli played onto his stumps in the World Cup final last year. Rohit deadbats from the crease. Slow start but the wicket column is all that matters for India through this first stage.
12th over: India 20-0 (Jaiswal 9, Rohit 7) Sounds of excitement from the crowd at nearly every ball from Boland. Past the edge again, then Jaiswal walks at him before leaving. It has been a bowler’s hour but the Australians have nothing to show for it. Not yet, though we know how quickly cricket can change. Jaiswal walks down and is beaten, on the move! Pushing down the line of the ball. Finally, digs out a fuller one to mid on and runs with the stroke. Unlike Kohli, Rohit responds and they make it, Jaiswal to the danger end.
11th over: India 19-0 (Jaiswal 8, Rohit 7) Here is the Cummins for Starc swap, after five overs from the sore and cranky left-armer. Rohit drives with a full face at mid off, where Head slaps the ball away, stopping four but conceding two. Looking more comfortable, the Indian captain steps across to Cummins and plays to the leg side, can’t get a run, but he’s moving better at the crease.
10th over: India 17-0 (Jaiswal 8, Rohit 5) Tricky ball from Boland, skews away from Rohit’s bat but evades gully. He gets off strike. Jaiswal gets a half roar as he drives solidly but it’s straight at mid on. Then he spars outside off stump and is beaten, Boland with a hand half raised on its way to celebration before bailing out.
9th over: India 16-0 (Jaiswal 8, Rohit 4) India get a gift from Starc, on Jaiswal’s hip, deflected to fine leg for four extras. My colleague Adam Collins drifts by to point out that there have been no byes yet in this Test match. Four days and counting. Can’t be too many examples of that. Get on the hunt, stattos. I’m a bit busy. Jaiswal booms a drive and misses, aiming for cover.
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8th over: India 12-0 (Jaiswal 8, Rohit 4) Boland for the 8th, which Cummins likes to do so that he can have himself replace Starc after a couple more overs. Given Starc is sore they’d probably rather have him warm up fewer times, so it’ll be fewer and longer spells rather than short ones. Boland hits his length, decking in at Rohit, who plays out a maiden.
Not That Andy Flintoff is writing in. “This Test is fascinatingly poised - there’s plenty of time for all four results to be possible, particularly if India decide to attack the target Australia set. As an aside, is there any reason why the odd start of 10.09am today?”
Losing 51 minutes to rain on day three, is the answer to that. We start early for lost time in Australia, rather than the genius English method of adding extra overs to the end of play and then losing them a second time around to bad light. So, 30 minutes early yesterday, and the remaining 21 minutes today.
7th over: India 12-0 (Jaiswal 8, Rohit 4) Ok, that’s funny. Another miss by a distance, another Labuschagne appeal, and Mitchell Starc turns around to look back at slip at his teammate and then holds up his hands about a foot apart, indicating how far the ball was from Jaiswal’s bat. Starc is like, don’t embarrass me in front of everybody. Jaiswal pokes a single, giving Rohit the chance to drive three. Sliced behind point, but gets it away. Every little bit helps.
6th over: India 8-0 (Jaiswal 7, Rohit 1) Off the mark! Rohit Sharma pushes Cummins in front of point and hustles. Jaiswal will face the Australian captain for the first time today, and is happy to leave. Three slips, Marsh at a conventional gully, Lyon at that deep second gully. Jaiswal picks the cover gap for one.
The crowd cheering every run, I’d say it’s an India-heavy support cadre today. The bottom tiers are full on the shaded side of the ground. Good attendance in the MCC. Empty upstairs on the sunny side. My hometown MCG radar says we’re well past 30,000 already, probably trending to 40,000. And why not? Cheap tickets, match set up, free entry for kids, you won’t get a better deal on top-level sport.
5th over: India 6-0 (Jaiswal 6, Rohit 0) Again, Starc beating the Jaiswal bat with one that goes. This is like Akash Deep and Bumrah yesterday, all movement and no edge. Carey, Smith, and Cummins have a conference at silly point about something. Last ball of the over, full and angling into the toes, and Jaiswal drives it gloriously for four! Dead straight, he has to shift his weight to the leg side to get his pads out of the way, and still zings the bat through that congested space to cream that shot. Lashings of style.
4th over: India 2-0 (Jaiswal 2, Rohit 0) A more comfortable over for Rohit against Cummins, leaving and defending.
Aditya is geeing things up. “I’m not surprised Australia haven’t declared. I don’t think the pitch has that many demons in it to warrant a declaration with a day left. It was really Bumrah’s spell yesterday that made the pitch look harder than it is — it still feels very flat to me. From an Indian standpoint I hope we can wrap up this partnership in the first 30 minutes and go for a win. My guess is we’ll need to survive the new ball without much damage, give ourselves a chance and find a way to cash in through those dead overs from 40-90. If India is chasing 350, and is at 120-2 after 40, I think a win is possible! All that said, big impact from Cummins and Lyon coming up I feel on Day 5. Hoping for an exciting finish!”
I’ve seen a bit of this flat-pitch chat, and I’m mystified. This is a really good wicket. There’s serious bounce for anyone with pace. We’ve seen prodigious seam movement for days. And it started to take turn, I’m sure Lyon will get some grip. As for any thought of the Indian will, I suspect they will play normally at tea, then decide if they’re close enough to try one last dash.
3rd over: India 2-0 (Jaiswal 2, Rohit 0) Starc to Jaiswal, punching to mid off. No run. Three slips, gully, and a kind of fly gully for the flayed shot. Backward point but almost halfway to the rope. Aside from that, mid off, mid on, square leg quite close, long leg. Big gaps at cover and midwicket to tempt the young opener. He goes for the off-side drive and is beaten, narrowly. Then leaves a wide shorter ball and Labuschagne is howling an appeal! Thinks that it flicked the bat in the leave position. He and Smith both charge up from slip. Starc dismissively waves a hand and tells them to shut up, because that missed the bat by about a metre. No idea how anyone appealed for that.
Starc responds with some proper good bowling: jagging back over middle stump. Swinging away past the edge. Then burrowing past the edge again. Today is going to be tough, and judging by yesterday, the newer ball will be difficult for at least 20 overs. Batting only eased significantly with the much older ball.
2nd over: India 2-0 (Jaiswal 2, Rohit 0) Cummins with the Southern Stand at his back, the stand now bearing Shane Warne’s name. Jaiswal glances a single, second ball. Rohit again plays into the cordon, again stopped. He leaves the fourth ball, shuffling across to off stump. Cat on a hot tin roof. We’ve seen innings of such poise from him under pressure in the past, can he dig deep today? Blocks the fifth ball, edges the sixth, short of slip. Smith gets across to block it with his chest, on the bounce.
1st over: India 1-0 (Jaiswal 1, Rohit 0) Jaiswal facing Starc, who has been his nemesis since their little tiff in Perth. Jaiswal got going in the first innings here though, and after a ball that misses the outside edge and the off stump by a few microns each, he gets off the mark with a push through cover. That brings Rohit Sharma onto strike, the under-pressure captain. He slices his first ball off the face of the bat to gully, where it is stopped with a dive on the bounce.
There have been 17 bigger chases to win a Test, and this is match number 2571.
India will need 340 to win in the fourth innings
Or 92 overs to survive. Including the change of innings, Australia have cost themselves four overs to make six runs. Don’t think that was worth it. But they have a hampered bowler in Starc with his rib problem, and a fifth bowler who doesn’t bowl in Marsh.
83.4 overs: Australia 234-10 (Boland 14)
WICKET! Lyon b Bumrah 41, Australia 234-10
Bumrah searching for that fifth wicket that the no-ball denied him last night. Boland has played him better than anyone in the team, I reckon. Uses his height, gets over the top of the ball, drops it dead. Anything wider, leaves it alone. Four slips waiting, but he skews a soft-handed edge past the widest of them for a run. That brings Lyon on strike…
and there will be no fifty. His first ball of the morning leaves his stumps in a gap-toothed smile. Middle stump out of the ground with a glorious in-jagger, Lyon playing a loose drive that is nowhere near the ball.
83rd over: Australia 233-9 (Lyon 41, Boland 14) India still have an almost new ball. Nathan Lyon has never made a half-century in Tests, might have the chance today. India start with Siraj, who gets a nick from Boland through the cordon for four! Every run hurts India’s slim chance of a chase, but every over faced is one less India have to survive. Leg bye to keep strike.
Updated
Players on the field, let’s go.
Due to the early finish for bad light and rain on day three, we have a 10.09am AEST start today and a minimum of 98 overs to be bowled.
Players are mustering on the sidelines and Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland will indeed resume their 55-run partnership for the 10th wicket. Yesterday they set a record of surviving 50 balls across both innings – just the second 10th wicket partnership pair to do so in Test cricket history.
After stumps today the player of the match will be awarded the Johnny Mullagh Medal. Who was Johnny Unaarimin Mullagh? And why do we celebrate him in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG? Angus Fontaine’s story today has some answers – but also a few questions.
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South Africa’s cricketers celebrated overnight, crawling over the line against a resurgent Pakistan bowling attack. That means South Africa are locked in for the World Test Championship final.
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The best bit of yesterday was Bumrah’s wrecking ball through the middle order. It was outrageous quality, and deserved to give India a smaller target. But the others couldn’t finish the job.
Preamble
Good Melbourne morning to you, wherever you are in the world. Day 5 from the Melbourne Cricket ground, and we are set up for a belter – although Australia’s final-wicket partnership last night tilted this match further in one direction than a neutral would choose for the perfect setup.
At 2 down and 185 ahead, the game looked comfortably Australia’s. Minutes later, at 4 down and 196 ahead, India had stolen that advantage. Labuschagne and Cummins got that Australian lead back on track, and when the last pair came together at 278 ahead, we felt set for a lead of about 280 which would have been perfect. But 55 runs between Lyon and Boland, inexplicably, has taken that out to 333.
That already seems like too many for India to chase in a day. And the partnership isn’t over yet, we’ll find out soon whether Australia will declare overnight or bat on.
Nonetheless, even if the Indian win is too big an ask, saving the game is entirely possible, and going to Sydney 1-1 would be the result. Winner takes all, there, or draw it and India keep the trophy. So, plenty for the visitors to play for today, whether or not they decide to bat aggressively.
It’ll be tough going on a fifth-day pitch. Stay with us all day, we’ll keep you posted.
