Australia has sealed its spot in World Test Championship Final in England after an emphatic win over India on the third day of the Indore Test. They have also managed to keep the series alive after a famous victory here at Indore’s Holkar Stadium.
The start of the third day was dramatic; Ravichandran Ashwin removed in-form Usman Khawaja on the second ball of the Day. It looked like Australia would make a mess of this below-par chase. However, it was not to be; the Indian spinning duo of Ashwin & Jadeja were right on the money in the first hour of today’s proceeding. They kept asking tough questions to Travis Head & Marnus Labuschagne.
The Aussie batting duo soaked all the pressure and showed good defense against the tuning ball. Though they only managed to score 13 runs in the first 10 overs, they avoided any further damage.
Ashwin tried to play mind games by shortening his bowling runup, but the main turning point came in the 10th over when he asked for the ball change. Head scored 13 runs in that over with six and a boundary. Ravindra Jadeja was struggling with his line & length right from the start and leaked 9 runs in the very next over.
The ball change completely changed the momentum in favor of Australia. As Indian spinners didn’t look very comfortable with the new ball, especially Ashwin. He even tried to get the ball changed again, but the umpires didn’t help him at all.
Australia sensed this opportunity and broke the shackles at the right moment; Head and Labuschagne played some attacking cricket, scored 43 runs in the next 5 overs, and sealed the famous win inside 19 overs.
This is Australia’s first test win on Indian soil since the 2017 Pune triumph. Australia has scored its 14th test victory ever in India and only 7th since 1970.
Indian Batting failure continues on Day 2
Before that, India’s bowling helps them make an excellent comeback in the test match after picking 6 wickets for only 11 runs. They restricted Aussie lead to only 88 runs. Ashwin (4-33) and Umesh (3-12) did most of the work on the second morning. But the Indian batting lineup couldn’t capitalize on this, they failed to stitch any good partnership throughout the innings. Pujara played a fighting knock of 59 runs but didn’t get much support at the other end. Nathon Layon picked 8 for 64 runs, India only managed to get 163 runs in their second innings. Nevertheless, they gave a target of 76 runs to chase on Day 3.
India bowled out for 109 runs on Day 1
Australian team has been in a commanding position after Day 1 of the Indore test. It ran through the Indian batting after losing the toss and restricted India to 109 runs as Matthew Kuhnemann bags a maiden fifer. Then showed an excellent display of test match batting and went past the Indian total with ease. They got a handy lead of 47 runs at the end of the day proceeding.
WTC Final Equation
Australia has sealed its spot in the WTC final with the win in Indore. So even if they manage to lose or draw in Ahmedabad, it would not matter. On the other hand, India still has its destiny in its hands; with the win at Ahmedabad, they can still play the WTC finals. But the loss or draw in the next test means they have to rely on New Zealand’s not losing 2-0 to Sri Lanka.
Australia has made a comeback in this series after winning at Indore. They will try to level the series in the next test match in Ahmedabad, starting on March 9.
Australia 197 (Khawaja 60, Jadeja 4-78, Umesh 3-12) and 78 for 1 (Head 49*) beat India 109 (Kohli 22, Kuhnemann 5-16, Lyon 3-35) and 163 (Pujara 59, Lyon 8-64) by nine wickets
