Perth: India needs two more wickets to win first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test as Australia reached 227/8 in 53.4 overs at tea on day four’s play at the Perth Stadium on Monday.
Though batting was a bit easier against the old ball, the pitch managed to throw up some tricks and that fetched India three wickets to inch closer to a famous and memorable win. Though Alex Carey is still unbeaten on 30, that won’t be enough for Australia to avoid a monumental defeat.
The session began with Mitchell Marsh pulling and muscling Harshit Rana for six and four respectively. He then danced down the pitch to loft Washington Sundar over long-off for six, while Travis Head smashed Rana through cover for four. Jasprit Bumrah came in by bowling from around the wicket and outside the off-stump, while slipping in a short ball to create pressure on Head.
Once Bumrah bowled a back of the length delivery outside off-stump, Head looked to fend off the back foot to release the pressure, but only managed to feather the ball through to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for 89.
Marsh continued to march forward by sweeping and edging for his two boundaries, but chopped onto his stumps while looking to carve Nitish Kumar Reddy through the off-side to fall for 47, giving the all-rounder his maiden Test wicket.
Amidst the inevitable, Carey pulled Siraj and Reddy twice for boundaries, and found support from Mitchell Starc, who hanged around for 35 balls to make his 12 runs. Just as it looked like the 45-run partnership for the eighth wicket would run till tea, Sundar struck as Starc tried to clip off his pads and Dhruv Jurel just pulled his right hand up to complete a sensational reflex catch.
Brief Scores: India 150 in 49.4 overs and 487/6 dec in 134.3 overs lead Australia 104 in 51.2 overs and 227/8 in 53.4 overs (Travis Head 89, Mitchell Marsh 47; Mohammed Siraj 3-51, Jasprit Bumrah 3-42) by 307 runs
(IANS)
