Brisbane, Dec 18 Australia have declared their second innings at 89/7 in 18 overs and set India a target of 275 to win the third Test at the Gabba on Wednesday. With a minimum of 54 overs left in the match, provided rain doesn’t disrupt proceedings, the stage is set for a remarkable finish to the match.
After clinching a lead of 185 runs, Australia had a highly eventful, 18-over second innings. They came out to play their shots, and were dismissed in quick succession. But with a big lead in hand, Australia found a good enough total to declare, thanks to cameos from Travis Head, Alex Carey and Pat Cummins.
Now, with a bit of uneven bounce and lots of seam movement in the pitch, Australia, with three fit frontline bowlers, have called upon India, who have their top-order woes, to chase it down, if they can. For India, Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets to take his match figures to nine, while Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj chipped in with two scalps each.
Bumrah provided the first breakthrough by getting some inward movement on a length delivery, and take the inside edge of Usman Khawaja to rattle the top of off stump. He came back to have Marnus Labuschagne slash away from the body and nick behind to Rishabh Pant.
That dismissal also fetched Bumrah his 52nd Test wicket in Australia, and moved past Kapil Dev to become India's leading wicket-taker in Tests in this country. Akash was next to strike, as Nathan McSweeney flashed at an outside off stump delivery and edged behind to Pant.
Mitchell Marsh’s promotion to number four didn’t work as Akash found his outside edge and Pant completed another catch. Siraj came in to have Steve Smith strangled down the leg side, as Pant completed a brilliant diving catch. Head and Carey hit quick boundaries before the former went for a big heave but gave a top-edge to across-moving Pant, who took his fifth catch of the innings.
Cummins had an entertaining stay at the crease, hitting a four and six off Akash and giving the same treatment to Siraj, before being foxed by a slower ball from Bumrah and was caught by cover for 22 off just 10 balls. Five balls after he got out, Cummins called back the batters in to declare Australia’s innings and set India up for an interesting chase.
Brief scores: Australia 445 and 89/7 dec (Pat Cummins 22, Alex Carey 20 not out; Jasprit Bumrah 3-18, Akash Deep 2-28) lead India 260 in 78.5 overs (KL Rahul 84, Ravindra Jadeja 77; Pat Cummins 4-81, Mitchell Starc 3-83) by 274 runs
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