The winning runs scored by Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane nicely summed up the entire test match. It was appropriate for Rahane to hit those runs as the boxing day test was perfect for him both as a captain and as a batsman. The winning runs also came off a misfield at backward square leg, hinting at how miserable the Kangaroos were on the field.
We now look into those crucial moments which showed how India won the test match and how Australia lost.
Bumrah the Go-To bowler
It was important for India to make an early breakthrough after embarrassingly losing the 1st test, one bowler injured, losing the toss in the 2nd game to allow Australia bat on a new pitch. Jasprit Bumrah was the man in action for India as he again got the better of Joe Burns whose lean form still is a cause of concern for the hosts.
Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne started rebuilding the innings with 86 runs partnership for 3rd wicket. The partnership was broken by none other than Bumrah in his 2nd over after the drinks break. There was no stopping India after that as wickets fell in regular intervals with Mohammad Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja too pitching in with crucial wickets to their name.
During Australia’s 2nd innings, no partnership went beyond 40 runs until for the 7th wicket between Pat Cummins and Cameron Green for which they stitched a crucial 57 run stand. Who else but Bumrah was there to give India the much-needed breakthrough, this time with the new ball.
Rahane’s masterstrokes
After Bumrah’s spell, rather than bringing newbie Mohammad Siraj, Rahane brought Ravichandran Ashwin into the attack who was having tremendous confidence coming into this match. Just in his 2nd over, Matthew Wade came down the track to play a mighty shot but got a top edge and Ravindra Jadeja made no mistake.
This brain faded shot from Wade had brought Steven Smith to the crease with Ashwin bowling, and Rahane was ready with the slip trap for the ace batsman. This time it was the leg slip who grabbed a nice catch to dismiss Smith scoring a duck for the first time against India.
Shubman Gill’s strokeplay
The Adelaide debacle was still afresh when Mayank Aggarwal was dismissed in the very first over. It was Shubman Gill who took the attack to the Aussies by scoring a couple of boundaries each against Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in successive overs. While one was a fuller delivery driven past mid-off, another was a short delivery from Starc and the young batsman did not hesitate to punch it on the offside. Gill sent a very strong message to Australia when he skipped down the track against Nathan Lyon who was bowling the penultimate over of the day and scored a boundary.
As the players walked off after the end of 1st day’s play, the Indian batting was looking in a different shape altogether, thanks to Shubman Gill who already had 5 boundaries to his name.
Captain’s knock
Ajinkya Rahane’s innings was nothing short of amazing. His innings came at a time when Gill and Pujara, whose lean run continues, were dismissed by Pat Cummins in successive overs. With Hanuma Vihari at the crease and trailing by 131 runs, it was never going to be easy.
After a steady half-century run partnership, Vihari was dismissed by Nathan Lyon. Rishabh Pant then scored 3 boundaries in which two came against Cummins. This transferred the momentum back to India but he could not last long as he gifted the 250th wicket to Starc.
Rahane then changed gears when Jadeja arrived and made sure India scored at 3 runs per over. They had stitched a 104 runs unbeaten partnership by the end of 2nd day’s play, in which the captain had 8 boundaries to his name compared to Jadeja’s 1.
By the time Rahane’s marathon innings of 112 ended, India had taken a lead of 99 runs. He anchored three crucial partnerships with- Vihari (52 runs), Pant (57 runs), and Jadeja (121 runs). This innings not only gave Indian batting a new kind of confidence but also took India to a winning position.
Slippery Australia
It was India’s 1st innings that had taken the game away from Australia. However, their atrocious fielding was also one of the reasons why India was able to get the momentum. The kangaroos dropped a total of 5 catches, out of which a couple of them were off the batting of Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane who went on to play match-defining knocks. We seldom see such kind of performance from them.
The only positive sign for the Aussies was that they finally crossed the 200-run mark while batting in the 2nd innings in which they scored 101 runs for their last 4 wickets, a problem persisting with the Indian bowlers not cleaning up the tail quickly. However, that was not enough as India chased the target of 70-odd runs handsomely while the winning runs fittingly came from Rahane’s bat.
With their 4th win at the MCG, India has found their happy hunting ground down under. This win not only levels the series but also sets up an engrossing contest to be fought over the next two tests in 2021.
Cow Corner 