Australia managed to end 2014 on a high after securing a psychological victory in the drawn third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Melbourne. This victory also helped them take an unassailable (2-0) lead in the four match series.
Chasing a target of 385 in 70 overs, India lost three wickets inside first 9 overs. Dhawan continued his poor run of form, whereas KL Rahul got out while playing an irresponsible shot. Murali Vijay, the best batsmen of India in this series alongwith Virat Kohli, got out lbw to a delivery from Josh Hazlewood that was going way down the leg-side. Then Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara did the right thing in playing for a draw and played the maximum overs of the 66 India played in their second innings. At one stage, Australian bowlers had Indian batsmen reeling at 142/6 with 15 more overs to go, but Indian skipper MS Dhoni and R Ashwin played the next 11 overs nicely which made both the captains shake hands with 4 more overs still left.
Earlier, Australia started the day 5 on 261/7. Shaun Marsh got a good support from Ryan Harris and both added 42 runs in 18 overs before Harris lost his wicket to Mohammad Shami. After his dismissal, Marsh, who was on his way to his hundred, got run-out by Virat Kohli and Australia declared their innings in 318/9, giving India a target of 385 to chase.Here Australia’s tactics came into question as it was felt that they played a lot of overs before allowing India to chase the target.
Scorecard:
Australia (Ist Innings): 530 (Steve Smith 192, Ryan Harris 74, Mohammad Shami 4-138)
India (Ist Innings): 465 (Virat Kohli 169, Ajinkya Rahane 147, Ryan Harris 4-70)
Australian (2nd Innings): 318-9 (Shaun Marsh 99, Chris Rogers 69, Ishant Sharma 249)
Indian Batting (2nd Innings):
|
Batsmen |
Dismissal |
Runs |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
|
Murali Vijay |
lbw b Hazlewood |
11 |
28 |
0 |
0 |
|
Shikhar Dhawan |
lbw b Harris |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
|
KL Rahul |
c Watson b Johnson |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Virat Kohli |
c Burns b Harris |
54 |
99 |
7 |
0 |
|
Ajinkya Rahane |
c Marsh b Hazlewood |
48 |
117 |
6 |
0 |
|
Cheteshwar Pujara |
b Johnson |
21 |
70 |
3 |
0 |
|
MS Dhoni |
not out |
24 |
39 |
4 |
0 |
|
R Ashwin |
not out |
8 |
34 |
0 |
0 |
|
Extras |
(lb 6, nb 1) |
7 |
|
|
|
|
Total |
66 overs |
174-6 |
Australian Bowling:
|
Bowling |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wickets |
Economy |
|
Mitchell Johnson |
15 |
3 |
38 |
2 |
2.53 |
|
Ryan Harris |
16 |
8 |
30 |
2 |
1.87 |
|
Josh Hazlewood |
15 |
3 |
40 |
2 |
2.66 |
|
Nathan Lyon |
12 |
0 |
36 |
0 |
3.00 |
|
Shane Watson |
6 |
1 |
14 |
0 |
2.33 |
|
Steve Smith |
2 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
5.00 |