Register emphatic 184-run win, after another top order failure, and a dramatic lower order collapse, with only a defiant 4th wicket stand of 88-runs between Jaiswal and Pant frustrating the fiery Aussie bowlers for a full 2nd session of play
India can still hope for a win at Sydney to draw the series 2-2 and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, though a hattrick of berths in the WTC final is no longer in their hands irrespective of the outcome
With his innings of 82 and 84 at the MCG, Jaiswal has finished 2024 as Test cricket’s second-highest scorer behind England’s Joe Root
The highest wicket-taker in the series so far, with 30 victims at the extraordinary average of 12.83, Jasprit Bumrah stands a chance to overtake the record for most wickets in a series by a visiting bowler, which remains the 38 claimed by England’s Maurice Tate way back in 1924-25
The Australian players, and fans in the record last day crowd of 74,362 at the MCG, erupted in wild jubilation as Nathan Lyon trapped Mohammed Siraj lbw in the last hour of play to end India’s 13-year-old unbeaten run in the Boxing Day Tests at the venue by registering an emphatic 184-run victory on Monday.
Chasing a challenging but achievable target on a somewhat tricky wicket, all India needed was a solid start for the proven lower order to do the rest. But once again the big guns failed to fire.
Though the opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma managed to weather the Aussie storm in the first 16 overs, when the Aussie pace battery generated pace, bounce, and movement, both in the air and off the pitch, and kept beating the blade, but without luck.
Returning from the first break of the day, the horribly out of form Rohit Sharma made the same mistake as he did in the first innings, trying to force a Pat Cummins delivery from outside the off stump towards the leg side and handing a sharp catch to Mitchell Marsh at gulley when he had made just 9 runs (40 balls). Five balls later, in the same over, when in-form KL Rahul indecisively edged one to be caught in the slips for a duck, the thought of a chase all but evaporated.
Virat Kohli also set into a defensive mode, hanging around for 28 balls before on the 29th his long-standing vulnerability outside the off stump brought about his downfall off a Mitchell Starc angled delivery for 5 runs just before lunch. This was the sixth time in as many dismissals this series the once-great batter has been snared behind the wicket.
In strode Rishab Pant to join Jaiswal, and together the duo sensibly played out the entire second session frustrating the Aussie bowlers. They stitched together an 88-run partnership off 195 balls for the fourth wicket, raising the prospects of the visitors being able to salvage a draw.
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But as happens impulsively with Pant, he could not hold himself back when part-time off spinner Travis Head was brought on and he dragged one short. An all-mighty swing of the bat by Pant, rocking on to the back foot, intended towards deep mid-wicket, found Mitchell March running quite a distance from long on to make the catch on his second attempt close to the boundary rope. The 114-ball 30 was the slowest innings of his Test career (min 30 balls).
That triggered an Indian lower order collapse, not witnessed in recent years on Australian soil. Including Pant’s, seven wickets fell for 34 runs, the Indian second innings effort ending at 155 runs, which was a far cry from the heroics of Sydney 2021 when they batted out an entire day to save a Test match.
Mullagh Medal for Pat Cummins
Australian captain Pat Cummins, with his stunning match-winning display with the ball (6 wickets) and bat (90 runs), claimed the Mullagh Medal after being declared the player of the match in the Boxing Test for the second consecutive year.
Jaiswal’s dismissal for 84 courted quite a controversy when bowler and captain Pat Cummins, confident that the batsman had gloved the ball into the hands of wicketkeeper Alex Carey while attempting a hook shot to a rising delivery down the leg side, reviewed the not-out decision of on-field umpire Joel Wilson.
The third umpire Sharfuddoula Saikat had to have conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision. Though the snickometer did not show any significant noise spike as the ball went past the batter’s glove, the third umpire went by close-up visual evidence, which apparently, in his view, showed the ball deflecting a bit after touching the batter’s glove, and declared him out.
While commentating, Indian great Sunil Gavaskar criticised the third umpire’s verdict arguing that when you employ technology the third umpire is bound by it. He felt that the deviation of the ball, basis which the third umpire took his decision, could have been a result of an optical illusion.
Jaiswal 2nd highest run-getter in Tests this year
But Jaiswal’s 84, following his first innings’ 82, that too ended in similarly ignominious circumstances (run out in a calamitous mix-up with Virat Kohli), ensured he finished 2024 as Test cricket’s second highest scorer behind England’s Joe Root.
The left-handed dashing opener has scored 1,478 runs at an average of 54.74, including three centuries and nine fifties in 15 matches this year, his highest score being 214 not out against England. Joe Root has 1556 from 31 innings, with two of his English compatriots Ben Duckett (1149 in 32 innings) and Harry Brook (1100 from 20 innings) finishing third and fourth highest run-getters this year.
Jaiswal also surpassed Virender Sehwag’s record of 1,462 runs in 2008 to achieve the best calendar year by an Indian opener. He is now fourth in the overall list of openers, led by Graeme Smith’s 1,656, also in 2008.
He is also now second on the list of most Test runs scored by an Indian in a calendar year, behind only Sachin Tendulkar’s 1,562 runs in 2010.
Bumrah has chance to surpass 70-year-old record
Among other positives for India from the match, by quickly claiming the lone Aussie wicket standing in Australia’s second innings, that of Nathan Lyon on Monday, speed king Jasprit Bumrah completed his 13th five-for in 44 Tests, though he is yet to claim a 10-wicket haul in a match.
This was his 30th victim of the series (at the extraordinary average of 12.83) having completed his third five-wicket haul in four matches.
With the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign beginning at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Friday, Bumrah remains with a chance to overtake the record for most wickets in a series by a visiting bowler which remains the 38 claimed by England’s Maurice Tate way back in 1924-25.
Rohit Sharma at the nadir of his Test career
Having missed the first Test due to paternity leave, Rohit has not passed 10 in any of his five innings this series with his rival skipper having claimed his wicket on four of those occasions (from just 44 deliveries sent at him).
With 31 runs at a dismal average of 6.20, Rohit’s return is the worst by any visiting captain in Australia (two Tests or more) since Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal managed just 24 runs at an average of 6.00 from his four innings in 2019.
To further place those numbers in context, even renowned West Indies batting bunny Courtney Walsh averaged 7.75 from seven hits at the bottom of his team’s batting order in 1996-97.
Record crowd at MCG
It was a record aggregate crowd for a Test match in Australia with today’s 74,362 pushing it to 373,691 across five days, eclipsing the previous benchmark which was 350,534 across six days of the 1937 Ashes Test against England.
Aussies are edging closer to making the WTC final
