Opener Travis scores quickfire 49 not out to help Australia register easy nine-wicket victory after early hiccup on Day Three at Indore
Travis Head during his unbeaten 49 against India at Indore yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
A second-ball dismissal on Day Three suggested a dramatic climax to a game that had hurtled along at breakneck pace, but there was no final twist in the tale at the Holkar Stadium on Friday. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne made light of R Ashwin’s eviction of Usman Khawaja for nought to power Australia to a comfortable nine-wicket victory on the middle day of the third Test, the visitors taking just 77 minutes and 18.5 overs to race to 78 for one, chasing 76 for victory.
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It was only India’s second defeat in their last 26 home Tests and their first in 25 months, since being conquered by Joe Root’s England in February 2021, but this should take the team a while to digest because they were hoist with their own petard.
A singularly unacceptable pitch made this a lottery of sorts and once India were shot out for 109 on Day One after batting by choice, all Australia had to do was hold their nerve. Despite periods of pushback from Rohit Sharma’s men, the Aussies showed greater resolve than at any previous stage of the series, meaning they go to the final Test in Ahmedabad 1-2 down and with a great chance to walk away with the series honours shared. India’s quest for a spot in the final of the World Test Championship, meanwhile, will extend to one more game.
It was always on the cards when play started on Friday that all other things being equal, Australia would emerge with their heads held high. Khawaja’s fall to the second ball, caught behind as he poked at Ashwin, briefly revved up the Indians, but Ravindra Jadeja didn’t seem in any rhythm as anxiety stemming from the lack of runs to defend seemed to get to him.
Also read: Ravindra Jadeja takes 7/42 to put India on cusp of another big win
Head’s ouster in the first over on the third day in New Delhi in the last Test had triggered a stunning collapse, so the left-handed opener was determined not to lose his head again. He took his time against Ashwin, immaculate if not incisive, and Jadeja; Labuschagne was impregnable as India hardly applied enough sustained pressure to create chances.
Australia were only 13 at the end of the 10th over, with Head on 5 off 22, when they went from cautious circumspection to measured aggression. Assisted by a ball-change, Head slammed Ashwin for a four and a six in the 11th over and the floodgates opened up; Labuschagne played the occasional peach between long bouts of obdurate defence, but it was Head who was the aggressor, picking off boundaries at will to rule out any potential banana-skin moments as he finished on a breezy 53-ball 49. Over to Ahmedabad now, with so much to play for.
Brief scores
India 109 & 163 lost to Australia 197 & 78-1 (T Head 49*) by nine wickets
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