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Australia claims dramatic final-hour victory against India in 4th Test
Australia claims dramatic final-hour victory against India in 4th Test
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia bowled India out for 155 to claim a thrilling fifth-day, final-hour victory in front of a record test crowd Monday in the fourth test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Australia’s 184-run win gives the home side a 2-1 advantage ahead of the fifth and final test which is scheduled to start on Jan. 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Set a target of 340 off 92 overs, India survived for 79.1 overs, with Australia set to take the second new ball in the following over.
The visitors collapsed after tea Monday, losing 7-43.
Earlier, India had been 25 without loss when Pat Cummins produced a double-wicket maiden, dismissing Rohit Sharma and K.L. Rahul .
India went to lunch at a shaky 33-3, losing the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli in the final over of the session when the star right-hander was caught at first slip for five off Mitchell Starc’s bowling.
Rishabh Pant and opener Yashavi Jaiswal added 88 runs for the fourth wicket.
But with India seemingly playing for a draw, Pant aggressively clubbed a delivery from part-time spinner Travis Head to long-on and was caught at 121-4, opening the door for Australia to push for victory.
India lost three wickets for nine runs as Scott Boland removed Ravindra Jadeja caught behind and first-innings century-maker Nitish Kumar Reddy edged to slip off the bowling of spinner Nathan Lyon .
In a pivotal moment after tea, Jaiswal was given out after Australia called for a review when an appeal for caught-behind was turned down by umpire Joel Wilson. Video replays appeared to show the ball glanced off the bat and glove and Jaiswal had to depart for 84 off the bowling of Cummins at 140-7.
With less than an over remaining before the final hour of play was due to start, Wilson again turned Australia’s appeal down and the decision was overturned following a review by the hosts. Boland claimed his second wicket as Akash Deep fell, caught at bat-pad for 17 at 150-8.
Boland struck again to remove Jasprit Bumrah for a duck and Mohammed Siraj was lbw to Lyon in the last over before the second new ball was due and sparked wild celebrations among the Australian players and in the stands.
A crowd of 74,362 for Monday’s fifth day of play lifted the total attendance to 373,691, beating the previous record for a Melbourne test match of 350,534 in the 1936-37 Ashes series.
Australia was dismissed in its second innings for 234 Monday morning. Bumrah claimed his 13th five-wicket haul by bowling Lyon in the second over of the morning after the home side resumed on 228-9.
Bumrah, 31, is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 30 victims at an average of 12.83.
The 44-test veteran took match figures of 9-156. Bumrah is the only player in test history with at least 200 wickets and a bowling average under 20 .
Steve Smith top-scored with 140 in Australia’s first innings of 474. India replied with 369, led by Reddy’s 114.
“It is pretty disappointing. We wanted to fight until the end but unfortunately we couldn’t do it,” India’s captain Rohit Sharma said. “We had our chances. We just didn’t take them and we let Australia come back into the game when we had them 91 for six .”
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