In the absence of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane has proven to be the key in holding the middle order together. The Indian cricket team skipper was the main factor in Melbourne as his century and partnerships with the lower middle order helped India get the better of Australia in the Boxing Day Test. In Sydney on day 3, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara held the key for India as they looked to get back on track following the late wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill on day 2. Both Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara focused on stonewalling the innings and did not score that quickly, with Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a run after 33 balls. On day 3, the mode of operation was similar from both batsmen but Ajinkya Rahane was involved in a couple of action-packed overs.
In the fourth ball of the 54th over bowled by Nathan Lyon, Ajinkya Rahane looked to defend but he managed to get an inside edge onto the pad which lobbed to short leg. Matthew Wade dived back and got his finger tips on the ball but he could not latch on to it and the catch was dropped. In the sixth ball, Ajinkya Rahane came down the track and lofted Nathan Lyon for a big six. It seemed that Australia had blown their chances of restricting India. But, Pat Cummins had other ideas.
In the very next over, in the final ball, Ajinkya Rahane was undone by some uneven bounce on the Sydney Cricket Ground wicket as he looked to defend a shortish ball that did not climb up much from Cummins. The batsman defended but he ended up chopping the ball back onto the stumps. Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for 22 as India continued to make a slow start on day 3 of the Sydney Test.
Match evenly poised
The Australian cricket team were boosted by a magnificent century from Steve Smith who roared back to form after a lean 16 months in which he had scored no century. Steve Smith’s 131 and Marnus Labuschagne’s 91 contributed 222 runs out of the 338 that were hit by Australia and it once again summed up their brittle batting line-up, held firm only by the likes of Smith and Labuschagne.
The four-match series is level 1-1 after Australia won the opening Pink Ball Test in Adelaide by bowling India out for a miserable 36. However, Ajinkya Rahane’s team bounced back in grand style as they won the Boxing Day Test for the second time by eight wickets, ensuring Ajinkya Rahane remained unbeaten as captain.
