Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Seamer Scott Boland picked up another rollicking four-wicket haul and led the way for Australia’s fightback in the final session of Day Two’s play and left the fifth Test on a knife’s edge at the Sydney Cricket Ground on January 4.
After India took a four-run lead after the first innings, they came out all guns blazing in their second innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal smashing four boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the opening over. But Boland led Australia’s fightback by picking up three wickets in quick succession, before getting one at the end of day two to end up with 4-42.
But wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant took charge with a swashbuckling 61 off just 33 balls, including hitting the fastest fifty by an overseas batter in Tests on Australian soil and the second-fastest by an Indian batter in the format.
Though India have a lead of 145 after ending day two at 141/6, they have only four wickets in hand, with the game heading towards a thrilling end and second innings shootout being evident in deciding the match’s eventual result. A lot will depend on how Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, unbeaten on eight and six respectively, will progress on Day Three. India will also be praying that captain Jasprit Bumrah, who went for scans and has a back spasm, be available to bowl on a pitch which has been difficult for batting.
In the morning, despite the absence of Bumrah, who picked 2-33 in ten overs, India picked up the last five wickets to bowl out Australia for 181 in the first innings. Prasidh Krishna, playing his first match of the series, stepped up to break two crucial partnerships to pick 3-42.
While Mohammed Siraj finished with 3-51, Nitish Kumar Reddy showed his utility with the ball to pick 2-32 as all Indian pacers were amongst the wickets to take a very narrow lead and were backed well by superb catching in slips. For Australia, debutant Beau Webster was the top-scorer with an impressive 57 off 105 balls.
Bumrah struck early on day two’s play when he got a length delivery to draw a faint outside edge off Marnus Labuschagne’s bat and was caught by Pant. India took the review, and snicko detected a spike, meaning Labuschagne was out for just two.
With that becoming his 32nd wicket of the series, Bumrah also surpassed Bishen Singh Bedi’s tally of 31 scalps to become India’s highest wicket-taker in a Test series in Australia. Sam Konstas tried countering Bumrah by crunching two boundaries, including one off a ramp shot.
