Reddy, Washington take India to 326 for 7 at tea
Melbourne: India’s find of the series Nitish Reddy’s fearless 85 not out was beautifully complemented by Washington Sundar’s unbeaten 40 as the duo took the visitors to 326 for seven before a slight drizzle resulted in an early tea on the third day of the fourth Test against Australia here.
The two young all-rounders added a record 105 runs for the eighth wicket to not only avoid follow-on but also give their head coach Gautam Gambhir validation about their selection in the playing XI for this game.
With a first-innings score of 474, Australia are still ahead by 148 runs but the placid Melbourne track has ensured that the match is headed towards a fifth-day finish as getting 20 wickets by either side won’t be an easy proposition.
If the morning was more about Rishabh Pant’s inexplicable shot selection, the afternoon session belonged to Reddy, whose attacking game put the pressure right back on Australia.
There were eight boundaries apart from a six off Nathan Lyon but none more gorgeous than the off-drive off Pat Cummins.
Reddy has been by far India’s most consistent batter in the series and the maiden Test fifty couldn’t have come at a more opportune time and that too at an iconic venue.
Washington, at the other end, grew in confidence and trusted his defence apart from punishing the loose deliveries.
It did help that the drop-in surface at the MCG has got better for batting as the match progressed.
The second new ball did very little for Australian bowlers and the Indian duo ran very between the wickets.
With Mitchell Starc’s back acting up a little, the two batters would look to reduce the deficit further.
In the morning it was all about Pant’s shot selection that hurt India.
The third day’s MCG track is perhaps the best to bat on with green grass making way for a brownish tinge and an old Kookaburra hardly doing anything. Had Pant stuck around, there was no way he wouldn’t have scored big.
Pant did start well and got a few boundaries but then the urge to play the falling lap pull over long-leg brought about his dismissal.
When he tried it for the first time off Scott Boland, who came round the wicket, Pant was hit in the naval area and seemed to be in pain.
He got up but didn’t realise that Cummins had placed one fielder at deep fine-leg and one at deep third man for both the conventional and reverse lap shot.
Without learning his lessons or caring about success percentage, Pant tried a similar shot but the extra bounce meant that the top edge flew to third man for a regulation catch.
“If there was a word called ‘worstest’, then this was one such shot,” former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar said on air.
But Reddy showed steely resolve as he started with a punchy off-drive off Lyon and also jumped down the track to loft him over for a straight six during a splendid recovery act.
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