MELBOURNE: Indiamoved within two wickets of an emphatic victory in the third Test afterreducing Australia to 258 for eight at the close of day four yesterday as thehome side's batsmen suffered a familiar spate of failures.
Having set adaunting victory target of 399 shortly before lunch, Virat Kohli's teamattacked with precision and intensity to leave Australia on life support at theend of a muggy and overcast day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Thelion-hearted Pat Cummins thwarted India's hopes of closing out the win with aday to spare, anchoring some stubborn tail-end resistance after the top ordercrumbled.
The seamer was 61not out, a personal best, with Nathan Lyon on six, and Australia still 141 runsshort of victory. Some rain is forecast on day five, but after dominating withbat and ball, the tourists will almost certainly head to the Sydney finale witha 2-1 series lead and a genuine belief they can become the first Indian team towin a series Down Under.
"Obviouslywe wanted to finish it today but our bowlers will get enough breaks andhopefully finish it off tomorrow in the first hour," said India numberthree Cheteshwar Pujara, whose 106 in the first innings was his second centuryof the series. "We have a very good chance of winning the series and thelast Test match will be crucial for us. But first things first, we will look tofinish the job early tomorrow."
On a grim day forAustralian cricket, Cummins was the only shining light, impressing with the batafter registering career-best figures of 6-27 before Kohli declared India'ssecond innings at 106-8 in the morning. However, the paceman's heroics willlikely be consigned to a foot-note, squandered as they were by the specialistbatsmen that came before him.
LYON'S PRIDE
Where straightbats were required to provide a platform of resistance, Aaron Finch got histeam off to the worst possible start by throwing away his wicket for three withan unsightly cut shot off Jasprit Bumrah that was gobbled in the slips.
Recalledall-rounder Mitchell Marsh was similarly wasteful, slogging spinner RavindraJadeja straight to Kohli at short cover to be out for 10.
Having done thehard work to get set in his innings, Travis Head (34) fell on his sword aftertea by dragging Ishant Sharma onto his stumps with a dubious drive away fromhis body. Despite assistance from Australia's poor shot selection, Indiaproduced moments of brilliance to remove their more assured batsmen. MohammedShami dismissed Usman Khawaja lbw for 33 shortly after lunch with a peach of adelivery, before Bumrah trapped Shaun Marsh for 44 with a searing ball.
The wily Jadejaproved a constant menace, and induced an edge off Marcus Harris (13) thatlodged in Mayank Agarwal's mid-riff. The left-arm spinner later returned todismiss wicketkeeper-captain Tim Paine for 26, leaving Australia to rely ontheir tail and a miracle to stave off defeat. "Now our backs are upagainst the wall, and Pat and I and Josh (Hazlewood) are going to come outtomorrow and we're going to have to fight," Lyon added. "We've got toshow a lot of pride and go out there and fight our backsides off and show howmuch it means to wear the baggy green cap." - Reuters