In three out of their four completed innings in this series, India have fallen short of 200 and, at 51 for 4 in Brisbane, a fourth looks likely
Andrew McGlashan16-Dec-2024In a Test where time is clearly going to be a precious commodity, it was a little odd to see Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon adding 22 runs in ten overs on the third morning at the Gabba.Clearly Australia wanted as many as they could first time around and those extra few runs may yet be important in keeping the follow-on as an option. Eventually, when Akash Deep picked up a much-deserved wicket by removing Carey, Australia could get to work with the ball. In this aspect, they made the most of the limited time available.In three out of their four innings in this series, India have yet to reach 200 and, at 51 for 4, a fourth is possible. There are also some patterns emerging about how Australia are working their way through the batting.Related
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After consecutive first-innings ducks, Yashasvi Jaiswal squirted his opening ball from Mitchell Starc between the slips and gully to get off the mark. But against his second delivery, he flicked firmly off his pads into the hands of Mitchell Marsh at forward square leg. Starc has now removed Jaiswal in each of the first innings for a grand total of four runs across 11 deliveries – full deliveries, on varying lines, bringing his downfall each time. Six of Jaiswal’s 30 Test dismissals have now been against the left-arm pace of Starc and Nandre Burger.It was the full ball that struck next for Starc, but this one owed much more to Marsh. Shubman Gill drove, got a thick edge, and Marsh leapt to his left at gully. “The Bison can fly,” said Ravi Shastri on radio, in reference to Marsh’s nickname. Gully is the position filled by Cameron Green when he’s in the side and he has held some stunning catches. Marsh could barely control himself in the celebrations.”Since I’ve come back into the Test team, fielding at gully is probably the most nervous I get because Greeny’s probably going to go down as the best ever, and if you drop one there they always compare you to Greeny,” Marsh said. “The boys are always into me about how slow I move and how I can’t jump or move in the field, so any time I can do something like that – I probably didn’t even need to dive to be fair, but thought I’d add a bit mayo.”Mitchell Starc and Virat Kohli hopping and fending•AFP/Getty ImagesAlmost every ball from Australia’s quicks felt like a threat. It wasn’t quite Jasprit Bumrah or bust for India – Akash Deep bowled with heart and skill while Mohammed Siraj fought through injury – but it wasn’t far off. For India’s batters, however, there was rarely a let-off.Between Starc’s two early wickets, the first delivery KL Rahul received from Josh Hazlewood, who was back in the team after a side strain kept him out of Adelaide, spat from short of a length and smashed into his wrist. He immediately dropped the bat and walked away as assistance came from the dugout.The first ball of Hazlewood’s next over took Virat Kohli’s glove as it also climbed from a length but fell short of the bowler in his follow through. A couple of overs later, Starc made another one jump at Kohli, who did well to keep the ball down towards the vacant short leg area.With the threat of rain looming, Rahul hooked a sharp bouncer from Hazlewood towards fine leg. Starc sprinted around the rope and made a superb sliding save to keep the batters to a single, meaning Kohli was on strike.Pat Cummins dismissed Rishabh Pant for the third time in the series•AFP/Getty ImagesHazlewood’s next ball was in a wide channel outside off, but as he does often these days, Kohli played away from his body with a drive, it took the edge and Carey pouched the catch. In an instant, as Hazlewood began his celebration, Australia’s fielders also made a beeline for Starc, who was being high-fiving as though the wicket would go in his tally. It was, at the very least, a brilliant assist. Like in the case of Jaiswal, Kohli’s second-innings hundred in Perth is starting to look like an outlier.To add to India’s pain, moments after Kohli had walked off, so did the rest of the players, before another ball was bowled as the rain arrived in what would become a Groundhog Day experience.India got through the next two brief passages of play without losing a wicket, but during a seven-ball period of action suffered another serious dent to their hopes. Pat Cummins angled a length delivery across Rishabh Pant, which took the edge to Carey. Having not previously dismissed Pant, it was the third time that Cummins had claimed him this series.In a long Test series, duels take shape. Bumrah is all over Nathan McSweeney, Starc is dominating Jaiswal, Cummins has it over Pant (although nothing is quite as one-sided as Matt Henry’s record against Zak Crawley across the Tasman). The rain may prevent Australia pushing on for victory in Brisbane but it is starting to feel like their attack is getting a hold over India’s batting line-up that will be hard to break.
