Melbourne: Australia Tuesday regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after the third cricket Test ended in an exciting draw with a jittery India just about managing to avoid an embarrassing defeat here.
Set an improbable target of 384 in 70 overs courtesy Shaun Marsh’s 99, India’s batting frailty was again exposed and they survived some anxious moments before salvaging a draw. It ensured that India won’t suffer a ‘whitewash’ this time around.
India finished at a nervous 174 for six before both the captains decided call off play with four overs remaining, bringing an end to a gripping Test match.
Australia needed a draw to regain the coveted trophy and batted out the first session to shut the door on India’s chances of a possible victory. With this draw, Australia maintained their unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
The fifth day’s play expectedly turned out to be an intriguing contest between bat and ball and had Australians given themselves some more time, they could have even pulled off a victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
When play was called off after 66 overs, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (24 no) and Ravichandran Ashwin (8 no) survived 11 tense overs to bring closure.
The highlight of the Indian innings was an 85-run fourth wicket stand between Virat Kohli (54) and Ajinkya Rahane (48) after three quick wickets saw them reeling at 19 for three at one stage.
Shikhar Dhawan (0) had another failure while Murali Vijay (11) didn’t fire this time round. KL Rahul’s baptism by fire cost his wicket as his atrocious shot selection for the second time raised doubts about his temperament at the highest level.
It was first innings centurions Kohli and Rahane, who brought about the stability. Kohli hit seven boundaries in his 99-ball innings while Rahane also showed composure during his three hour and 16 minute stay at the wicket hitting six fours.
Cheteshwar Pujara (21) was done in by a beautiful slower from Mitchell Johnson but Dhoni and Ashwin saw to it that India were safe at the end of the day.
The final Test will be held at Sydney from January 6.
The final session of the Test match turned out to be a tricky one for India as Kohli, who got his second 50-plus score, was gone first ball after the break, flicking Harris straight to square leg.
Pujara consumed 70 balls and although didn’t score many runs did eat up precious 16.5 overs help out in forcing the draw for his team. His strategy did work to an extent, putting on 37 runs for the fifth wicket with Rahane.
But it was Johnson, who dismissed the Saurashtra batsman with a beautifully thought out plan. Pujara was hit on the helmet by Johnson in the 51st over and two deliveries later, the shaken batsman was bowled by one that he delivered from wide. It pitched on the middle and then moved enough to clip the off-bail.
Four overs later, Rahane mistimed a pullshot off Hazlewood delivery straight to Shaun Marsh at midwicket and India were looking at trouble. There were still 15 overs remaining and the final hour saw Dhoni and Ashwin tested a lot. The latter was lucky as he was dropped by Watson at first slip in the 57th over, when on 1. The duo tightened up and persevered till the end to salvage a draw for their team thereafter.
Earlier, Dhawan and Vijay (11) opened the innings with both the Adelaide-chase and Brisbane-collapse fresh in mind. And a top-order collapse was the story of this day, as Dhawan was out leg before in the second over to Ryan Harris. In his second Test innings then, debutant Rahul (1) was promoted to number three.
Much like in the first innings, Rahul played a poor shot to get out, this time pulling a wide delivery from Johnson as Watson ran back from first slip to complete the catch. India were struggling at 5/2 and things could have been worse in the 5th over when Kohli, (on 4), could have been run-out as Vijay wasn’t backing up and looking at the ball instead.
His partner meanwhile had almost reached the non-striking end and only a poor throw from David Warner helped keep Kohli at the crease. But Vijay left soon after in the 9th over, adjudged LBW by umpire Kumar Dharamsena off Hazlewood. It brought Rahane to the crease, pairing him up with Kohli once again. (PTI)
