Australia ended their 10-year drought to win their first Border-Gavaskar Trophy since the 2014-15 series in the afternoon session on Day 3 at SCG. The victory in Sydney also sent them to their second successive World Test Championship final – barring any over-rate deductions – where they will face South Africa for the mace.
Australia’s debutant Beau Webster and India’s big-game nemesis, Travis Head, saw the small chase through with an unbeaten 58-run stand as the visitors came up short with the ball in the absence of the injured Jasprit Bumrah. India’s hopes were piqued towards the end of the morning session where Prasidh Krishna struck thrice but those were quickly put to rest by Head and Beau Webster.
The day began with Scott Boland and Pat Cummins quashing India’s endeavour to add to their overnight lead and make a match out of the situation. Cummins snuffed out the two batters from Day 2 – Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar – with subtle but effective seam movement. Jadeja nicked one that moved away from him and Sundar was cleaned up by the one that ducked in. Boland picked his fifth and sixth – Mohammed Siraj caught at slips, and Bumrah, bowled – to walk his team off the park to adulation from the SCG crowd just 7.5 overs into the morning session. Australia were set a target of 162 runs.
Bumrah’s back spasm meant he wasn’t going to be available to bowl. In his absence, India’s listlessness came through early as the two frontline quicks Siraj and Krishna conceded wide fours – and 13 runs each in their respective first overs. Sam Konstas then fell, top-eding with a shot across the line against Krishna to get caught by Sundar at mid-off. The pacers generated uneven bounce to keep themselves in the game, even with a paltry score to defend.
Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith fell in quick succession to keep India alive in the game. Labuschagne hit a back-of-length ball to Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully while Smith was undone by excess bounce. The ball flew off the outside edge of his bat and Jaiswal did well to dive forward and complete a catch.
Australia still needed 91 runs when the second session began but India being short of a third frontline pacer hurt them. Siraj and Krishna had to continue bowling after lunch and expectedly dipped in speeds and bite. Siraj still got Usman Khawaja to nick one behind and keep Australia on their toes but Webster joined Head and saw the rest of the chase through. As the partnership built, runs and boundaries came easily. Just after the drinks break, Webster put the finishing touches with a four off Sundar.
Brief Scores:India 185 (Rishabh Pant 40; Scott Boland 4-31, Mitchell Starc 3-49) & 157 (Rishabh Pant 61; Scott Boland 6-45, Pat Cummins 3-44) lost to Australia 181 (Beau Webster 57; Prasidh Krishna 3-42, Mohammed Siraj 3-51) & 162/4 (Beau Webster 39, Travis Head 34; Prasidh Krishna 3-65) by 6 wickets
© Cricbuzz
