Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur had stitched a big partnership for the seventh wicket to keep India afloat in the final of the ICC World Test Championship against Australia on Day 3. Rahane was batting beautifully despite his fingers being battered by a flurry of short deliveries as he reached 89 and looked set for a deserved hundred.
Rahane’s resistance though came to an end early in the second session when Cameron Green held onto a blinder of a catch at gully. Trying to punch a length delivery from Pat Cummins, the middle-order batter got a thick outside edge which directed the ball to the right of Green who was quick to react as he leapt to his right to pluck it out of thin air with one hand.
Rahane was left stunned as he had to take the long walk back to the dressing room having made a superb 89 off 129 with the help of 11 fours and a six.
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That catch also broke the 109-run partnership between Rahane and Thakur for the seventh wicket. Thakur then completed his half-century but wickets began tumbling again as India were bowled out for 296 in 69.4 overs in their first innings.
While Rahane was the top-scorer, Thakur made a significant contribution with 51 off 109, an innings that featured six fours.
Though India avoided follow on, they ended up conceding a massive 173-run lead to Australia.
India opted to bowl first and started well by removing Usman Khawaja for a duck before David Warner hit back with a decent knock and then Travis Head scored a superb 163 while Steven Smith made 121.
Australia were bowled out for 469 in their first innings.
In reply, India lost Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli cheaply. Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja stitched a solid partnership to provide some fightback but Nathan Lyon broke the partnership late into the day’s play.
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