Pant, Jaiswal bat out afternoon session to steer India to 112/3
Melbourne: Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his second half-century of the game while Rishabh Pant displayed rare defensive traits as India reached 112 for three at tea on the final day of the fourth Test against Australia here on Monday. The victory target is 340 and it doesn’t seem that India will go for the improbable chase with only 38 overs left in the game. A draw seems to be the most likely outcome at this stage.
An upbeat Australia went into the lunch having reduced India to 33 for 3 with captain Rohit Sharma (9 off 40 balls), KL Rahul (0) and Virat Kohli (5) all back in the dressing room.
However, young guns Jaiswal (63 batting, 159 balls) and Pant (28 batting off 93 balls) added 79 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket to frustrate the Australian attack in a wicketless session.
While Jaiswal started with three boundaries off Scott Boland, Pant was ready to bide his time as he presented a dead bat on most occasions.
The only time he attacked was a boundary when Boland presented him with a half-tracker. After his first innings dismissal invited severe criticism, the maverick keeper-batter was way more responsible in his approach during the 93 balls he faced in the session.
For Jaiswal, it really helped that he saw off the first session, leaving and defending a lot of deliveries. The second session gave him an ample opportunity to score some quick runs with the pitch offering nothing and the old Kookaburra hardly helping the bowler’s cause. He has so far hit seven boundaries.
Earlier, Rohit’s ultra-defensive approach and Kohli’s unending saga of failures outside the off-stump had India staring down the barrel.
Rohit (9 off 40 balls) did all the hard work during the first hour before opposition skipper Pat Cummins (2/19 off 14 overs) got his bunny for the tenth time in Test matches.
Kohli (5 off 29) could never control his urge of playing the cover drive again and was caught at first slip after Mitchell Starc pushed one across with the angle.
Rahul was out without troubling the scorers after getting a second good ball in the game. Jaiswal, who didn’t look convincing at all, survived 83 deliveries to score 14 going into lunch.
Shortly after play began on day five, Jasprit Bumrah completed his 13th five wicket haul in Test cricket as Australia were all out for 234 in their second essay.
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