With the score at 103/2 for Australia, the Hosts entered Day 4 as firm favourites to win this game and with momentum on their side.Despite losing the openers quickly, Labuschagne and Smith brought the rail back on track with responsible batting.
If India were to lose this game,they have to blame themselves and not anyone else as they had missed many great opportunities of a wicket with dropped catches,poor fielding and poor running between the wicket.
Another catch,an important catch of Marnus Labuschagne was dropped by Hanuma Vihari on the very second ball of Day 4. It was a simple catch and somehow he managed to bottle it.
With Rishabh Pant injured on Day 3, India brought on Substitute Wicket Keeper Wriddhiman Saha.Nandeep Saini was the one who got the better of Labuschagne after the Aussie tried to glance it behind only for Saha to take a great diving catch. Labuschagne was dismissed for a score of 73 runs with the scores at 138/3.
After losing Matthew Wade quickly with the score now at 148/4, Steve Smith was joined by Cameron Green in the middle of the crease. The duo added an important 60 run partnership with Smith taking the lead. In the process he completed his fifty.
Smith was then dismissed for a third time in the series by Ravichandran Ashwin. With the original decision not out,India took the DRS for an LBW decision. The replays showed no bat involvement with three Reds,which made the decision to be overturned and Smith was judged out. He added a crucial knock of 81 runs to the scoreboard.
With Smith gone,it was time for Green to take charge. He and Captain Tim Paine added a 104 run partnership for the 6th wicket with Green scoring a knock of 84 runs which perhaps may win the game for Aussies. With his innings Australia managed to score 312 runs with a loss of 6 wickets and with a lead of 406 runs now, Australia decided to declare and give India a target of 407 runs in 137 overs remaining.
Once Again the Indian Openers had a great start and had a solid partnership but lost the wickets in a soft way at crucial time. Gill who was looking steady at the score of 31,was edged out behind Josh Hazlewood in 23rd over.
Just three balls Later Cheteshwar Pujara was seen furious at a decision of LBW by On Field Umpire Paul Reiffel. He quickly took the DRS which showed the balls was miles above the stumps and the decision was reversed for not out.
After bringing up his well played knock of 52 runs, Rohit Sharma decided to pull one up only for the ball to go straight into the hands of Mitchell Starc as Pat Cummins got the major Breakthrough for Australia. India are now at a score of 98/2. Australia need 8 more Wickets to win this match as for India they still need 309 runs to win.
0 Comments