India captain Jasprit Bumrah is forced off through injury on the second day of the fifth Test, but Australia fail to capitalize.
India shrugged off captain Jasprit Bumrah’s absence to dismiss Australia for 181 and reach 141 for six for an overall lead of 145 on a remarkable second day of the well-balanced fifth Test.
On a high-drama day at a sun-drenched Sydney Cricket Ground, Bumrah took the first wicket to send India on their way but left with the team doctor just after lunch for medical scans on his back after suffering spasms.
Prasidh Krishna (3-42), Mohammed Siraj (3-51) and Nitish Kumar Reddy stepped into the considerable bowling void left by their captain to bowl out Australia and fire India to a slim early lead. front of four runs at Tea.
However, there was still plenty of spice at the wicket, and paceman Scott Boland took 4-42 in the final session to add to his four-wicket haul on Friday as Australia took the brunt of the Indian batting and dug deep in the middle. I order.
Rishabh Pant threw off the shackles and produced some incredible knocks in a stunning 28-ball half-century to stop the rot, but he too departed for 61 minutes in the final hour, Australia captain Pat Cummins claiming his 14th wicket of the day .
There was still time for Boland to claim his fourth victim in the form of Nitish Kumar Reddy, leaving Ravindra Jadeja, who was eight out, and Washington Sundar, unbeaten on six, at the close of the match.
“As many runs as possible would be great for us,” Krishna said when asked how big a lead the Indian bowlers would be comfortable defending, potentially without Bumrah.
“We don’t really know how the gate is behaving. It’s going up, it’s going down. If you can be aggressive, there is risk, but you get a run reward.”
Australia coach Andrew McDonald believed the “generation” of bowling talent in both teams was the reason for the drop in points and said his plans for day three were straightforward.
“First and foremost, we have four wickets to take, to try to keep that total as low as possible,” he told reporters.
“There’s still a long way to go … so we’ll see what happens.”
The crowd of 47,257 enjoying the Sydney sunshine certainly got their money’s worth as the momentum shifted back and forth as it has throughout the series, which Australia lead 2-1.
Debutant all-rounder Beau Webster, whose 57 was Australia’s highest score, was cheered in the rafters for his half-century and again when he removed Shubman Gill for 13 later in the day to take the first Test wicket .
Virat Kohli, who stood as India’s captain after Bumrah’s departure, was shaken up for what is likely to be his last innings in Australia and cheered back on the boundary rope after Boland caught him at slip for a timid six.
Boland is fast becoming a cult hero in Australia and perhaps the loudest roar came when he bowled a peach of a delivery to remove the stumps of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and end a promising innings on 22.
The Indian supporters had plenty to cheer too, starting with Bumrah’s dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne in the morning session to take his tally to 32 wickets at an average of 13.06.
Krishna also waved Indian flags when Steve Smith was caught at slip for 33 to break a fifth-wicket partnership of 57 with Webster and leave the former Australia captain five short of 10,000 Test runs.
India, who dropped captain Rohit Sharma for the match, need to win in Sydney to progress the series and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
A win for Australia will seal not only the series but a place in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in London, United Kingdom, against South Africa in June.
