Bumrah bamboozles Australian batsmen
MELBOURNE: Rampaging paceman Jasprit Bumrah pummelled Australia with a sixwicket haul in the performance of his young career to put India in a commanding position on day three of the third test yesterday.
Bowling fiery spells full of precision and guile, the 25yearold with his signature slingshot action helped rout Australia for 151 soon after tea in its reply to India’s declared first innings total of 443 for seven.
However, Virat Kohli’s batsmen struggled as much as their Australian counterparts, seamer Pat Cummins taking four wickets in a lionhearted spell as India staggered to stumps at 54 for five on another stifling day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Despite the collapse, the tourists hold a 346run lead with two days to play and are in prime position to take a 21 series lead into the fourth and final test in Sydney.
Debutant opener Mayank Agarwal was 28 not out at stumps with pugnacious wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant on six.
‘‘We lost a few more wickets than we wanted to but we’ll assess tomorrow morning and we’ll try to add as much as we can and then hopefully get them out,’’ Bumrah told reporters.
Made to toil for two days in the field, much of it in scorching heat, Australia’s overworked bowlers were given only 66 overs of respite before they were pressed back into service after a dismal display by their batting teammates.
Wicketkeepercaptain Tim Paine and opener Marcus Harris shared their side’s highest score of 22 on a day when 15 wickets tumbled.
Bumrah’s haul of six for 33 was the best by an Indian bowler at the MCG. He removed all four Australian batsmen who made starts and cleaned up the last three wickets for six runs after tea.
Having softened up Harris late on day two by rapping his helmet with a nasty delivery, Bumrah had the opener dismissed with a desperate hook taken by Ishant Sharma at short leg.
He left Australia in huge trouble at 89 for four at lunch, trapping Shaun Marsh for 19 with the last ball of the session, a slower full toss that hammered into the lefthander’s pads.
Bowling Travis Head for 20 after the interval, Bumrah returned later to rattle through the tail.
Ravindra Jadeja made a successful return in his first appearance in the series, claiming two for 45 including Usman Khawaja for 21 and recalled allrounder Mitchell Marsh for nine.
Having tormented the home batsmen with a slew of deliveries that bounced and spun viciously out of a footmark, the wily leftarm spinner will look forward to facing Australia’s troubled parade of lefthanders again.
Tim Paine’s side was dismissed 93 runs short of making India bat again, but captain Kohli declined to enforce the followon and sent Australia back into the field.
Cummins, though, gave home fans in the sparse crowd some late cheer, taking four for 10 in an extraordinary sixover spell that included dismissing Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara for ducks in nearidentical fashion, both chipping to Harris at leg gully.
Even with some rain forecast in the final two days, Australia’s hopes of staving off a comprehensive defeat appear bleak.