4th Test
Day-5 Morning Session Highlights:
Indian team are three wickets down in tough chase at MCG
At The Lunch of Day-5:
India scored 369 (1st Innings) & 33/3 (2nd Innings), where as Australia scored 474 (1st Innings) & 234 (2nd Innings).
So, finally India need 307 runs more to win the test match.
Pat Cummins struck twice in an over to dismiss Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, while Mitchell Starc removed Virat Kohli just before lunch, leaving India in a precarious position on Day 5 at the MCG.
Set a daunting target of 340 in 92 overs, India’s chase faltered early.
Just 10 balls into the session, Jasprit Bumrah knocked back Nathan Lyon’s stumps to wrap up Australia’s innings, finishing 2024 at the top of the bowling charts with 71 Test wickets.
India’s openers, Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, made a cautious start, with a bit of luck on their side.
Like their first innings, they posted a 30% false shot percentage in the first 10 overs but survived without losing a wicket.
Mitchell Starc tested Jaiswal with 26 deliveries, repeatedly shaping the ball away to beat his bat.
Jaiswal missed eight of those and edged one, scoring just six runs.
Rohit started cautiously as well, even as the Indian supporters cheered for every run.
The pair made it through the first hour unscathed, making good progress in their attempt to see off the new ball.
However, Cummins changed the game after the drinks break with a double-wicket over.
He first dismissed Rohit – for the sixth time in Tests – when the latter tried to show aggression after a quiet start.
Cummins angled in a full ball, prompting Rohit to flick, but the ball straightened just enough to find the edge, which was well caught by Mitchell Marsh at gully.
KL Rahul’s success on this tour had been based on playing close to his body, but on this occasion, that instinct failed him.
He was undone by a back-of-length ball from Cummins, which found the edge of his bat and was caught by Usman Khawaja at first slip.
Virat Kohli walked out to a mixture of cheers and boos and briefly continued his first-innings habit of leaving deliveries outside the off-stump.
He took a painful blow to his right thumb from a Cummins delivery, but after taping it up, he continued.
However, just before lunch, Kohli chased a delivery from Starc outside the off-stump, edging it to Khawaja at slips.
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