After beating Australia for 369 before lunch, India made a strong start before losing to Rohit Sharma against the run of the game.
India 62 for route 2 (Sharma 44) Australia Run 369 (Labuschagne 108, Paine 50, Natarajan 3-78) ro 307
Rain broke out the last session of the second day with the fourth Test intriguingly lifted. After knocking Australia out for 369 before lunch, India made a strong start to their response before Rohit Sharma fell against a run to put the guests on top.
India start at 62 for 2, with Cheteshwar Pujara, who has bathed for over an hour, and Ajinkya Rahane at the firing range.
With the pitch at the Gabba offering speed and real kick but little in the movement of a seam, the key question at the start of India’s innings was how their batsmen would handle Australian control of or around a stump. Sharma and Shubman Gill saw out the first six pitches, with Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, without too much discomfort – except for a Starc delivery that moved away from a crack to overcome the outer edge. Sharma – before the Australian bowling change took effect.
The bowler and the elimination method were expected. Throughout this series, Pat Cummins has had the right-handed bats play at the deliveries in the aisle with his inner sounding angle, and then got the ball straight from the seam to the find their outer edges. He did just that with his second ball, and Gill, who tends to stay on the side of the ball at the ball at all times, felt for the ball and went into the second. slip.
The same thing could have happened to the next Pujara ball, but his softer hands made sure the ball fell short on the field. More than a similar moment later in Cummins’ spell, Pujara was tested at the shower, waking up the good balls while appearing willing to push hard down the ground as well. opening the face of his stick and looking for a run behind a square on the side of it. . He had fully launched the latter option in the third Test in Sydney, where speed and kick were much more certain than on this pitch.
Sharma, meanwhile, looked completely relaxed with the bowling and the settings, getting right behind the line to defend, and driving gracefully down the ground when which the archers made a mistake on the full side.
After moving to 40 with one such driver off Green, he picked up another finish in the next over, knocking Nathan Lyon through the covers when he fell short. Just as he was looking for the course for a game-defining contribution, however, he went out to Lyon and stretched out trying to hit a loft. It was a familiar moment for those who followed his career – he has been out in the same way as Moeen Ali in Southampton in 2014, Dane Piedt in Delhi in 2015 and Lyon in Adelaide during India’s 2018-19 tour of Australia – and one that has its influences could be felt throughout the rest of this game.
Australia lost their remaining five wikis in the morning session adding 95 to their total overnight, in 28.1 overs. Just like the first full day, it was a session to please or dissuade one team.
The pair Cameron Green and Tim Paine extended overnight their sixth wicket from 61 to 98 without much trouble when the ball was still fresh, with Green looking particularly impressive as they drove down. the ground. But shortly after Paine surrendered his half-century, a bullet fired opened the door to India. He moved away from his body at Shardul Thakur’s outer body, motionless, and went to the second slip.
Within the scope of the next two scenes, India seemed to have exploded through the opening, as Washington Sundar bowled Green, finding a natural difference to overcome it. the outer edge when the pitch played for a leg, and Thakur ‘s Cummins lbw played around a full low – turn.
After lowering Australia to 315 for 8, however, the Indian bowlers showed their ignorance, bowling too short or too full in an attempt to blow up the tail. Lyon and Starc took a full toll in the ninth wicket center of 39 off just 40 balls. Even Josh Hazlewood, the No. 11, played a couple of times outside before T Natarajan came back into the attack and replaced his stump with a nearby man.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is the senior sub-editor of ESPNcricinfo