In the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s Boxing Day Test, India’s chase got off to a tense start. India was reduced to 25/2 when Pat Cummins took two quick wickets of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, putting the visitors on the defensive despite their early plans to remain patient despite chasing 340 runs. Apart from his aggressive batting style, captain Rohit tried to calm down first, but that ultimately backfired as he left for nine.
Rohit was under a lot of pressure since his place on the Test team was in jeopardy, which prompted the chase. He may be fired following the Melbourne Test if India doesn’t win, according to reports. In order to control his jitters, the skipper took some time to calm down, which allowed Australia to put more pressure on the visitors.
The 37-year-old became distracted during the game’s 17th over and attempted to flick Pat Cummins but was nicked instead.
At Gully, Mitchell Marsh made a fantastic catch to terminate Rohit’s stay while the Australian players were celebrating.
Watch the video below:
— ‘ (@media295) December 30, 2024
Rahul, meanwhile, left in the same over. Earlier in the series, he looked brilliant, and his performance may have suffered when he was demoted to number three for the first time. The 32-year-old failed to open his total in the second innings after scoring 24 runs in the first. Rahul nicked one to Usman Khawaja, who was assigned to first slips, much like Rohit did.
Watch the video below:
5 ball Duck for KL Rahul 😢 #INDvAUS #INDvsAUSTest #AUSvIND #AUSvINDIA #BGT2024 #KLRahul pic.twitter.com/olMGR67nVW
— 𝑫𝒊𝒈𝒗𝒊𝒋𝒂𝒚 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒉 🇮🇳 (@Stroke0Genius41) December 30, 2024
India may not have won the Melbourne Test because of their slow start. But if the squad bounces back fast and Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal play their best cricket, the visitors can pull off a late comeback. Virat Kohli plays an important part as well. Shubman Gill’s career-defining knock at Gabba in 2021 must be repeated by Jaiswal as India chases 340 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara is the one Kohli must visit.
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