Australia returned to the four-match series by defeating India by nine wickets within three days in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar series here on Friday and also confirmed their place in the final of the World Test Championship.
Australia achieved the target of 76 runs for victory by losing one wicket. Even after this win, Australia is 1-2 behind in the series. Travis Head (49 not out) and Marnus Labuschagne (28 not out) took Australia to victory in 18.5 overs after facing difficult conditions in the opening overs of the innings.
Wins in India are rare for visiting teams and it was no different for Australia, who registered their first win on Indian soil in six years. This is only the third defeat for India in the last 10 years.
The team will need to rework their plans ahead of the final Test starting March 9 in Ahmedabad. The pitches used in the series have also come under sharp criticism and it will be interesting to see whether India will continue to prefer spin-friendly pitches as the home team’s batsmen have also struggled to cope with the challenging conditions. India could only manage 109 and 163 runs in their two innings.
The way Australia fumbled in the second innings in Nagpur and Delhi, it seemed that anything could happen in the first session on Friday. Chasing a target of 76 runs for the win, the Australian team raised hopes of a miracle by getting Usman Khawaja caught by Ravichandran Ashwin on the second ball of the day. This ball of Ashwin took a fast turn and took the edge of Khawaja’s bat and went into the gloves of wicket-keeper Kona Bharat.
The team was under pressure after losing the first wicket without any runs on the score board but Labushen reduced the pressure by hitting a four off Ravindra Jadeja. Head and Labushen are known for their aggressive batting but both scored just 13 runs in the first 10 overs without taking any chances. After the change of ball in the 10th over of the innings, the match turned towards Australia.
Ashwin was not satisfied with this ball and Head gave away his intentions by hitting a four and a six in his over. Head and Labushen then hit fours against Jadeja and then Australia got hold of the match. Labushen gave Australia a memorable victory by hitting a four.
