In the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, the tail began to trouble India after Jasprit Bumrah caused chaos in the second session on Day 2. Both Pat Cummins and Marnus Labuschagne were successful, with Labuschagne scoring 70. Although the visitors were supposed to feel some respite when Labuschagne was removed, India too had trouble against Cummins and Mitchell Starc. They were in dire need of a wicket, and it arrived in an unexpected way.
Starc and Cummins ran a single, but Starc wanted to run two. The Australian skipper, however, declined. Rishabh Pant chose to toss the ball straight towards the stumps at the non-striker’s end, even though Bumrah was near them, because Starc was far forward of his crease when it was delivered towards the keeper. Still, Starc was just below the crease when the ball proceeded to shatter the stumps. When the pacer was ejected for five, his tenure came to an end.
Check out the viral Starc run out by Rishabh Pant here:
It’s not every day that we see Australian players getting run out. This is the pressure built up by Team India. Nice throw by Nitish Kumar Reddy and reflexes shown by Rishabh Pant. #INDvsAUS #AUSvINDIA #BoxingDayTest #RishabhPant #NitishKumarReddy #captaincy #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/ydHLzFCa2X
— Parichay by Shankar (@Shanky_Parihar) December 29, 2024
India, meanwhile, was unable to comfortably wrap up the tails even after Starc was out. Though he was unable to dislodge the tail, Bumrah persisted in his spell. Nathan Lyon wasn’t put under enough testing in the first phase, but Cummins batted beautifully in the middle. India would be under a lot of strain in the last innings if they don’t soon take the final two wickets.
It will be challenging for the team captained by Rohit Sharma to complete the task on the last day if the hosts manage to post a goal of more than 300 runs. In the event that India loses the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the skipper is reportedly under pressure to keep his job and could be fired and dropped from the team. Additionally, the victory will move the visitors one step closer to the World Test Championship final.
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