AUSTRALIA v INDIA, 2023 World Test Championship remaining, The Oval, London – Day Three on Friday.
SCORE: Australia (469 and 4-123) lead India (296) by 296 runs with six second-innings wickets nonetheless standing.
SUMMARY: India confirmed actual resolve to attempt to preserve their hopes alive within the showpiece world remaining, first with a defiant knock from former captain Ajinkya Rahane earlier than outdated nemesis Ravindra Jadeja put Australia right into a little bit of a spin as they tried to cement their dominant place. Three spilled catches and one other Pat Cummins’ misplaced wicket via a no-ball represented a slipshod morning’s work by the Aussies, with the serene Rahane (89) and dogged Shardul Thakur (51) using his luck to make them battle. But Cameron Green noticed the again of the previous with a stunning one-handed catch and received the latter caught behind. When Australia batted once more, a sleepy Marnus Labuschagne received an early wake-up name within the pavilion as David Warner (1) fell. Then after a careless Usman Khawaja (13) waft, India received one other sudden reprieve with Steve Smith (34) falling to an uncontrolled hoik off Jadeja, who then caught and bowled first-innings hero Travis Head (18). But the world’s No.1 Test batter Labuschagne, conscious by now, was nonetheless battling on 41.
PLAYER OF THE MOMENT: Captain Pat Cummins shook off the ring rust after his close to three-month break with 20 ever-improving overs and a good return of 3-83, which could have been even higher if he hadn’t overstepped when trapping each Rahane (on 17) on Thursday after which Thakur.
KEY MOMENT: David Warner’s eight-ball keep ended with him making an attempt to pressure one off the backfoot and getting caught behind, as soon as once more elevating questions in regards to the veteran’s vulnerability as opener within the Ashes.
STAT OF THE DAY: Playing superbly whereas his colleagues struggled, Rahane went previous 5000 Test runs, the thirteenth Indian batter to attain the feat in his 83rd Test match.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I love it, I think it’s great – I wish it had been around when i was a player – (but) I think India have been outplayed so far, their preparation wasn’t ideal coming into a one-off Test with all their players being at the IPL.” – Australia’s former captain Ricky Ponting on how a lot he is having fun with the World Test Championship remaining.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
