MELBOURNE: Indiacaptured Australia's last two wickets after a rain-delayed start today five ofthe third Test yesterday to complete an emphatic 137-run win and take a 2-1series lead into the Sydney finale. India, denied victory on day four by thetail-end resistance of Pat Cummins, were forced to wait nearly two-and-a-halfhours for play to begin due to rain at the Melbourne Cricket Ground but whenthe weather cleared their bowlers wrapped up Australia's innings for 261 in 22minutes.
In his secondover, seamer Jasprit Bumrah had Cummins edge to Cheteshwar Pujara, who took asharp, low catch in the slips to remove the bowler for a personal high score of63. Paceman Ishant Sharma then sealed the result when he had Nathan Lyon edgebehind to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant for seven when attempting to slog the ball.
The wickettriggered bear hugs and backslaps among the Indian players as travelling fansin the sparse crowd roared with joy. Having dominated with bat and ballthroughout the one-sided Boxing Day clash, Virat Kohli's men will head to theSydney Cricket Ground with a genuine belief they can become the first Indianteam to win a series Down Under. The win also saw them retain the Border-GavaskarTrophy contested between the nations after claiming last year's series 2-1 athome.
"We're notgoing to stop here, this has only given us more confidence to go out in Sydneyand play even more positive cricket," Kohli said at the trophy presentation."The job is not done yet ... We want to win the last test as well.
"It's allabout taking pride in the roles we were given and executing them."Resuming on 258 for eight, 141 runs short of victory, Australia's best hope wasfor rain to wash out the final day but the morning showers merely delayed theinevitable.
They had been seta daunting victory target of 399 shortly before lunch on day four, and crumbledafter India's pacemen attacked the stumps with cold-blooded assurance. Thepride of Cummins and Lyon allowed Australia to limp into day five but the matchhad slipped away from the hosts on the morning of day three, the rampagingBumrah taking 6-33 to rout Paine's side for 151 and carve out a first-inningslead of 292. Bumrah claimed 3-53 in the second innings for a match haul of9-86, and was deservedly named man of the match. The recalled Ravindra Jadejaenjoyed a successful return, claiming five wickets for the match with his wilyleft-arm spin.
Barring Cummins'heroics-the fast bowler claiming nine wickets for the match and career-bestfigures of 6-27 in India's second innings-there were few positives for TimPaine's Australia. The hosts will head into the final match pondering a litanyof problems and whether their victory in the second test in Perth was a falsedawn rather than a turning point for a depleted team playing without their twotop batsmen in former skipper Steve Smith and his vice captain David Warner.
The pair havethree months left on their bans for their part in the Cape Town ball-tamperingscandal but Australia will be eager to reinstate them as soon as possible."It's a bit disappointing, no doubt," Paine said. "We felt wemade some strides in Perth but with an inexperienced batting lineup at times you'regoing to have performances like we did in the first innings. "So we've gotto learn from that, and get better really quickly before we go to Sydney."- Reuters