Australia 474 (Smith 140, Labuschagne 72, Bumrah 4-99) and 234 (Labuschagne 70, Bumrah 5-57) beat India 369 (Reddy 114, Jaiswal 82, Boland 3-57) and 155 (Jaiswal 84, Cummins 3-28, Boland 3-39) by 184 runs
After India had slid to 33 for 3, Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant added 88 in 32 overs to take India into the final session with seven wickets in hand, but Travis Head burgled the wicket of Pant and Australia seized their moment as India lost 7 for 34. The quick bowlers were immense, Mitchell Starc bowling in the mid-140kph region despite a back niggle, while Cummins and Boland added further chapters to previous MCG heroics. Cummins earned the Johnny Mullagh Medal as Player of the Match for an outstanding all-round Test in which he also contributed 90 runs alongside his six wickets.
India were very cautious early on against some extremely testing new ball bowling; Rohit Sharma later said they set out wanting to lay a platform for a chase but it always looked a long shot. Australia were made to wait for their opening incisions before, as has so often been the case, it was Cummins who came to the fore. He had the struggling Rohit edging to gully, where Mitchell Marsh took a sharp catch, and five balls later squared up KL Rahul with a superb delivery which ended in the hands of first slip.
In the final over before lunch, Starc was rewarded for battling through the pain barrier when he lured Virat Kohli into his latest drive outside off, the edge reaching Usman Khawaja. The wicket ended a controversial time in Melbourne for Kohli, and made it clear that there was no realistic chance of India chasing down the target.
Jaiswal and Pant played very solidly through the afternoon to repel everything Australia threw at them. Jaiswal, who dropped three catches yesterday, including a vital chance off Marnus Labuschagne, survived a tight lbw appeal against Starc on 31 and brought up his second fifty of the match off 127 balls.
Shortly after tea, India were 121 for 3. Head, who was used partly to improve Australia’s over rate which risked WTC points deductions, dropped a ball short outside off stump and Pant went for the pull, finding Marsh at long-on who took an excellent catch. It gave Australia an opening. And belief.
Cummins quickly returned to Boland and he soon made a delivery jump at Ravindra Jadeja to take the shoulder of the bat through to Carey. In the next over from Lyon, India’s first-innings rescuer, Nitish Kumar Reddy, edged a delivery which went straight on and Steven Smith took a superb catch, low to his left at slip. Australia had taken 3 for 9 to crack the innings wide open.
Jaiswal’s dismissal will likely be dissected in detail over the coming days and the DRS was called into action again to rule that Akash Deep had got a thin edge into his pad which went to short leg. By then, Australia were firm favourites, especially with a new ball soon to be available, but in the end that wasn’t even needed.
Boland found Bumrah’s outside edge, with Smith taking another superb catch, and then Lyon cannoned one into Siraj’s front pad. Inevitably India reviewed but it was going nowhere but the stumps. When the decision was confirmed, Lyon did a jig of delight. Overall, the Test had been watched by 373,691 spectators, a new record for a Test match in Australia. It will go down as one of the more memorable.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
