Boland four-for, Pant fireworks keep SCG Test in balance – T20 IPL 2024

India 141 for 6 (Pant 61, Boland 4-42) and 185 lead Australia 181 (Webster 57, Smith 33, Prasidh 3-42, Siraj 3-51) by 145 runs

During the lunch break on the second day, Rohit Sharma cleared the air, saying that he had sat out of the Sydney Test and that he wasn’t retiring from Test cricket yet. Soon after the break, Jasprit Bumrah, who had taken over from Rohit as captain, left the SCG for scans. Australia had lost half their side around that time, with the game – and the series – dangling on a razor’s edge. Despite the absence of Bumrah, India snatched a four-run first-innings lead, turning the Sydney Test into a second-innings shootout.

Rishabh Pant pulled India further ahead with a jaw-dropping 29-ball half-century. It was the second-fastest fifty by an Indian in Test cricket, behind his own 28-ball effort against Sri Lanka in 2022. After Scott Boland had carved up India’s top order with pinpoint accuracy, Pant countered them and thrilled a Sydney crowd of 47,257. The late dismissals of Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy kept the game in the balance, with India leading by 145 at stumps.

The second-innings shootout, though, could get skewed in favour of Australia if Bumrah isn’t fit to bowl anymore in this Test.

Bumrah leaves the stadium midway through day two, likely for scans
Rohit says he ‘stood down’ for SCG Test: ‘It is not a retirement decision’

India’s support bowlers, though, stepped up admirably on the second day, with Prasidh Krishna and Reddy sharing five wickets among them. India’s non-Bumrah seamers came away with combined figures of 8 for 132 – their best in any innings on this tour.

Reddy picked up two wickets in two balls while Prasidh marked his Test comeback with the scalps of Steven Smith, Alex Carey and debutant Beau Webster, who top-scored for Australia with 57 off 105 balls.

Webster continued his excellent debut, becoming the first Australian since Adam Voges in 2015 to score a half-century on Test debut.

The day had dawned with Bumrah snaring Marnus Labuschagne for 2 and throwing a stare at non-striker Sam Konstas. Bumrah surpassed Bishen Singh Bedi’s tally for the most wickets taken by an India bowler on a tour of Australia.

The 19-year-old responded strongly with the bat when he advanced at Bumrah and shanked him down the ground for four. Then, after Bumrah reinforced the slip cordon by bringing deep third in, Konstas unfurled another audacious reverse-ramp, prompting Bumrah to post a fielder at deep third.

In the next over, however, Mohammed Siraj had Konstas edging to gully for 23 off 57 balls with an outswinger. Three balls later, he had Travis Head caught at second slip for 4. Where Bumrah and Australia’s quicks hit the deck, the source of Siraj’s menace was swing. So, he kept exploring a fuller length to maximise that swing.

Smith and Webster steadied Australia with a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Smith fell to Prasidh at the stroke of lunch. Smith seemed destined to reach 10,000 Test runs but moments before the break Prasidh shifted his stock length to an even more fuller one to dismiss him five short of the landmark.

Then, in the afternoon, he stormed through the defences of Alex Carey with a similar length. Reddy rocked Australia even further with the wickets of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Australia lost their last four wickets for just 19 runs to be bowled out for 181.

Yashasvi Jaiswal then launched India’s second innings in grand style, scything Starc for four fours in the first over. KL Rahul, too, showed some attacking intent at the other end until Boland (who else?) intervened and curtailed India’s rapid start.

Full report to follow…

Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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