Jasprit Bumrah stepped up as India skipper in the absence of struggling captain Rohit Sharma and landed a haymaker to Australia with the final ball on a fiery day one at the Sydney Cricket Ground
After India crumbled with the bat, bowled out for 185 on the first day of the fifth and final test, seeking to win to level the series 2-2, the hosts got off to a rocky start.
Bumrah’s first decision backfired, opting to bat first with the green-tinged SCG pitch providing joy for Australia’s bowlers.
Scott Boland grabbed 4-31 off 20 overs and Mitchell Starc chipped in with 3-49, meaning a score of less than 200 for the fifth time in the series for India.
But at stumps, Australia were left on 9-1 in response, with Bumrah (1-7) taking the wicket of Usman Khawaja (2) at slip to set things up beautifully for day two.
The new skipper immediately celebrated in the direction of Sam Konstas after a fiery final over that saw the young batter and Bumrah face off with a verbal exchange just two balls prior.
“I feel they had a little chit-chat, they (Australia) wanted to waste some time,” wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant said. “I didn’t hear it, but I feel that’s the only thing which (Konstas) wanted to do to just wait some time so we don’t bowl one more over.”
The start of the fifth test mirrored the four previous as the bowlers dominated early.
After several deliveries beat the edge of the bat outside off-stump, Starc found more joy bowling straighter as Rahul (4) chipped a simple catch to Konstas at square leg in the fifth over.
Boland only needed four balls at Jaiswal (10) to have the young opener edge a ball through to debutant Beau Webster, replacing Mitch Marsh.
That brought Kohli, the series’ pantomime villain, to the crease. Kohli was greeted by booing from many in the the SCG crowd, stemming from his deliberate shoulder bump on Konstas on the opening morning of the Boxing Day test for which he was later fined.
And fittingly, his first ball was the most dramatic of the session. Boland drew the edge and it flew low to Steve Smith’s right hand at second slip. Smith appeared to get his hand just under the ball before it hit the ground and the ball popped up for Marnus Labuschagne to complete the catch, sparking wild celebrations for the hosts.
The catch was referred to TV umpire Joel Wilson with replays suggesting the ball grazed the grass as it came out of Smith hand and Kohli survived.
As lunch approached, Nathan Lyon (1-19) teased Gill (20) to edge to Smith.
Kohli’s (17) luck didn’t extend much further after the break a he again edged behind from Boland to be India’s only wicket to fall in a slow middle session.
Pant, who was widely criticized after a pair of loose dismissals in Melbourne, again played a rash shot to hole-out off Boland for 40 which triggered a collapse of 6-65 to end India’s innings.
“It was obviously pretty seam-friendly… so the plan was to bowl a little bit fuller and try and, you know, entice those front foot defenses and front foot drives and I thought Scotty (Boland) was excellent,” Webster said.
Australia leads the series 2-1 and must avoid defeat to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time since 2014-15. A win by India and a drawn series at 2-2 would allow the visitors to retain the trophy for a record-extending fifth consecutive time.
A win for Australia at the SCG would book the team’s spot in a second straight World Test Championship final. Australia beat India in the 2023 decider. South Africa became the first team to qualify for the WTC final at Lord’s in June by winning a dramatic match at home to Pakistan last weekend.
India drop Sharma
Intense speculation that Sharma would be dropped for the final test was confirmed shortly before play with Bumrah named as India’s captain.
With scores of 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9 at an average of 6.2 for the series, Sharma has had a wretched tour since coming back into the side for the second test after he missed India’s comprehensive first-test win in Perth on paternity leave.
While Bumrah said Sharma had been rested, the 37-year-old’s test career would now appear in doubt, despite India’s poor showing with the bat without their struggling skipper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Article courtesy of
Source link
