Melbourne: India out-played Australia by 137 runs to win the third Test and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday.
The visitors have secured an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the four-match Test series.
After declaring India’s second innings at 106 for the loss of eight, the hosts were challenged to chase a mammoth total of 399. In its reply, Australia resumed their innings on 258 for the loss of eight after the rain wiped out the morning session of the fifth day.
Pat Cummins, who was stranded on 61 on the fourth day, could manage only two more runs before returning back to the pavilion. On an away swinging delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, Cummins was caught by Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip. Soon after, Nathan Lyon, who remained unbeaten on 6 on the fourth day, gifted his wicket to Ishant Sharma on short-ball after adding just one run to his kitty.
India scripted history as they won a Test match at MCG for the first time in 37 years after bowling out Australia for 261.
Virat Kohli has now equalled Sourav Ganguly’s record 11 away Test wins as the captain. Meanwhile, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant has now the most dismissals (20) in a Test series for India.
“We are very happy. Our aim is to win the series. We will win the trophy. We have always believed we can beat Australia. Mayank Agarwal and Jasprit Bumrah have a made a big contribution,” Kohli said.
Bumrah, who picked up nine wickets for 86, was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’.
“To play Test cricket is a great feeling: be it Boxing Day or any other day. I made my India debut in Australia, so great feeling. I always focus on consistency. When you have so many options, you may get confused. Someday you get wickets, someday another mate will, but we don’t think about those. Bowled a lot, but I don’t mind, because this is why we train. We bowl a lot in Ranji-Trophy cricket, and it pays off. When I made my ODI debut, I always just wanted to play Test cricket,” Bumrah said after the match.
Australia, on the other hand, must have missed the services of duo Steve Smith and David Warner.
“We made some strides forward in Perth, but this was disappointing. We are playing against some of the best bowlers, and we need to find positives before Sydney. Another huge challenge coming up. We had little discussions about the batting order, but conditions in Sydney will be different, so we’ll decide on the best formula,” Australia captain Tim Paine said.
“The pitch was a good one, although some said it’s a ‘bad wicket’. I was glad I didn’t win the toss, because I wanted to bowl anyway. Would have looked disastrous. Cummins has been superb all series. The quality was always there, but the Australian public can see his effort. We just need a few more guys to jump in with him. It’s been a difficult year, but the silver lining is that we’ll have some world-class players available for selection in a few months. And we’ll see the benefits of what happened this year over the next few,” he added.
A 2-1 up India will be heading to Sydney, eyeing to win the first series in Australia.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]