India batters throw in the towel to give Australia 2-1 lead after a heart-warming fightback by bowlers on Day 4
MELBOURNE: Bad judgment can break a team, as India found out the hard way here at the 'G' on Monday. Just after tea on the decisive fifth day, Rohit Sharma's men appeared to be well on their way to saving a pulsating Test match in which they had always been behind the curve but had also, till now, clawed back at crucial junctures.
At 112/3 when the final session began, and with Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal having done all the hard work to keep Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland at bay for long stretches with some resolute defence, Cummins threw the ball to innocuous part-time offspinner Travis Head.
Over-rate concerns, it seems, were primarily on the Australian captain's mind, but perhaps there were hopes Head could induce a false shot from either batter.
It was like taking candy from a kid. Pant, who had been panned for throwing his wicket away in the first innings by attempting facile scoops with fielders placed just for that shot, saw a half-tracker and had another brain fade. He could have hit it anywhere. The game was in the balance and India were hanging on by the skin of their teeth since being reduced to 33/3 in pursuit of an improbable 340, following another all-too-familiar top-order collapse.
Pant and Jaiswal had added 88 precious runs in a wicketless middle session for Australia. Instead, the maverick wicketkeeper went for the glory shot, managing only to hole out to Mitchell Marsh at wide long on. "Six is a drug, but it only fetches two runs more than a four," a frustrated Sunil Gavaskar declared on air. Australia had a foot in the door, and their formidable bowling lineup did the rest.
Soon after, Boland got some extra bounce and with it, Ravindra Jadeja's wicket. Five balls later, Nitish Reddy edged Lyon to slip. Cummins, Australia's man of the moment, got into the game next, bowling a short one down leg which Jaiswal, now on a hard-earned 84, chased needlessly.
A controversial DRS confirmed there was a deflection from either the bat sticker or the glove, and suddenly, all hope was gone. India were staring at an early defeat, and spectators started pouring out of the MCG in their thousands after another day of record attendance.
True to form, the tail didn't last too much longer, and as the Aussies celebrated an extraordinary 184-run win - which gives them a 2-1 lead in the series going into the Sydney Test - Indian cricket's bleak present came into sharp focus.
This defeat should mark a point of no return for the team, especially given the predictable manner of dismissals. Rohit, who opened again, showed glimpses of form before falling to Cummins for the sixth time at the first instance of attempting an aggressive stroke. That over was a double-wicket maiden, with Man of the Match Cummins accounting for KL Rahul - needlessly demoted to No. 3 - with a beauty. The last over before lunch, Virat Kohli did Virat Kohli things, going fishing again and falling for Starc's bait outside off.
India's senior batters now seem in danger of being termed liabilities. A change of guard seems imminent. Only Jasprit Bumrah, wondrous, magical, rare, is carrying the flame for the experienced rung of players as the last stop looms in Sydney.
And what of Pant, from whom wonderous things are always expected but seldom delivered? "Rishabh obviously needs to understand what is required of himself," Rohit said, "More than any of us telling him, it's about him understanding and figuring out what's the right way to go about it.
"In the past, he has given us a lot of success doing what he does. Sometimes you want to back that thought of him playing the way he plays, sometimes when things don't look good, it frustrates everyone." Rohit may well have been talking not just about Pant, but about himself and every other struggling batter in the team.
As for the Test, India had their moments but couldn't seize them. Bumrah was overbowled but produced wickets almost every time he came on. Jaiswal's dropped catches in Australia's second innings came back to haunt. Nitish Kumar Reddy's maiden ton brought India back into the game but eventually, the batting superstars just couldn't raise their game when it mattered.
This has been an epic Test, played on a rare pitch with something for everyone and producing enough drama and tension every day, right till the last ball, to keep the crowds coming.
A new attendance record for a Test in Australia was set, with 373,691 people turning up.
Unfortunately, just as Test cricket took flight here at the 'G', India found their wings clipped.
