India Avoids Follow On On Day Four Vs Australia: The Indian Cricket Team barely avoided a humiliating follow-on in the ongoing third Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia due to fine batting performances by KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja.
India Avoids Follow On On Day Four Vs Australia
Today was Day Four of the third of five India vs Australia Test matches, which is being played at The Gabba in Brisbane. India won the toss and decided to bat first. However, on Day One, only 13 overs were bowled and 28 runs were made due to rain washing away the game.
On Day Two, India quickly picked up two wickets and had the Aussies reeling at 75/3 at one point. But then, Travis Head and Steve Smith came together to bat India out of the game. Smith, struggling for form in Test cricket, scored his first 100 in the format in 2024. Meanwhile, Head scored his second quickfire ton in a row, taking the score past 150 this time.
At the end of Day Two, the Australian Cricket Team was at 405/7. Then, on Day Three, they were bowled out for 445. But this was yet another poor day for Rohit Sharma’s men, as India lost two wickets quickly, then saw Virat Kohli depart for cheap, and before the rain interrupted the play for the majority of the day, even Rishabh Pant got out. At the end of Day Three, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were on strike at 51/4.
Check Out: India Avoids Follow On On Day Four Vs Australia
On the first ball of Day Four, Rahul edged the ball that flew towards Steve Smith in the slips, who dropped the catch. While KL looked in great form, captain Sharma did not, and that ended where one would expect, the skipper edging the ball to the wicketkeeper, as it was Australian captain Starc who scalped his Indian counterpart.
But from this point, the winds changed in favour of India as Ravindra Jadeja came on strike. First, Rahul scored his 50, one of the best of his career, given the circumstances. But soon after India reached the 100-run mark, the rains came back.
When both sides returned to the pitch, the sun was shining a bright white. And with the ball entering its middle overs in terms of age, the batting conditions eased up, with Jadeja and Rahul playing a little more freely. But with the mark of the follow-on still being 105 runs away, KL Rahul got out to Nathan Lyon for the score of 82.
Just to refresh, the trailing team has to come within 200 runs of the score of the team that batted first. If the second batting team trails by over 200 runs at the end of their first inning, the team in the lead can enforce a follow-on, so the trailing team will come out to bat again.
From this point on, while Jadeja scored the runs, Nitish Kumar Reddy decided to just stay put on one end and defend the ball. After lunch, with 80 runs required to avoid follow-on, Jaddu kept on piling up runs and soon reached his 50. And with 66 runs required to avoid the follow-on, the rains returned.
Check Out: India Avoids Follow On On Day Four Vs Australia
After Nitish Reddy was dismissed, in came Mohammed Siraj, and the Aussie pacer fell on him like attack birds. But soon after, the rains came back. Soon after the game resumed, Siraj was dismissed.
With 40 or so runs still required to avoid the follow-on, in came Jasprit Bumrah, intending to take his side across the line. But with 33 runs still required, Ravindra Jadeja looked to play an attacking shot and got out, with India falling to 213/9.
With the last wicket partnership on strike, the Australian Cricket Team would have assumed that a follow-on was imminent. But there was yet another twist to come.
First, Bumrah hit a wonderful six over fine leg, and then, No. 11 batter Akash Deep hit a couple of aesthetically beautiful boundaries. Then two men kept on adding to the scoreboard and eventually did bring India within 200 runs of Australia and avoid the follow-on before the end of the day’s play.
India is currently at 252/9 with Akaash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah playing at 27 and 10, respectively. They trail the hosts by 193 runs at the end of Day Four of the third India vs Australia Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Check Out: India Avoids Follow On On Day Four Vs Australia
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