da realbet： Pujara and Rahane made half-centuries as India enjoyed another excellent day at the Adelaide Oval
da betway： The Report by Deivarayan Muthu08-Dec-2018
After Cheteshwar Pujara continued from his masterclass in the first innings and Ajinkya Rahane progressed to a busy fifty, R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami turned the screws on Australia in their daunting chase of 323 at the Adelaide Oval. Rishabh Pant’s hit-and-giggle cameo in front of the stumps, his eight dismissals behind it, and pinpoint accuracy from the seamers all added to India sighting a significant victory at a venue where they had suffered a heartbreak four years ago.Never before have India won the opening Test of a series in Australia – they had lost nine of their 11 previous first Tests in the country. They took a step closer to making history on the fourth day, despite losing their last five wickets for 25 runs, and then suffering a couple of lapses in the field.3:25
Agarkar: Australia have a little bit of hope
Aaron Finch could have been dismissed for a pair, when he was pinned by Ishant Sharma’s boomerang inswinger in the second ball of the chase, but replays showed that the quick had overstepped. It cost India only 11 runs, but Finch could have made them pay more had he reviewed umpire Nigel Llong’s on-field out decision, after glancing an Ashwin offbreak off the top of his pad to Pant. Finch, instead, reckoned he had touched it with a fraction of his glove, and decided against doing so.Marcus Harris, the other opener, was reprieved on 14, when he jabbed at Shami and nicked one to an unusually spread-out cordon, where Pujara threw himself to his left from first slip, but the ball burst out. While it was a difficult chance for Pujara, it would have been a dolly for second slip, but India had nobody there, and KL Rahul at third slip helplessly watched the ball trickle away to third man. Harris added 12 to his tally before Shami claimed his outside edge again, resulting in a more straightforward catch for Pant.Ashwin, aided by Bumrah and Shami at the other end, then straightjacketed Usman Khawaja and forced him to manufacture a release shot. Khawaja ventured down the track only to hole out to sweeper cover, falling to Ashwin for the second time in the game.Handscomb played close to his body and put a high price on his wicket like he had done in his first innings, but the extra pace and bounce of Shami had him skying a catch to short midwicket, leaving Australia at 4 for 84. Shaun Marsh, who was Western Australia’s hero in a similarly hefty chase at this venue last month, and Travis Head, Australia’s first-innings hero in this game, ushered the side to stumps without any further setbacks.India had enjoyed an excellent morning, with their overnight batsmen Pujara and Rahane negotiating the first hour in fuss-free fashion. Pujara moved to his second fifty-plus score of the game in the 66th over, when he late-cut Lyon to third man. At the other end, Rahane cracked Mitchell Starc through cover-point and then clattered Pat Cummins on the up through extra-cover.Starc, in particular, struggled for control and even swung a brace of full balls down the leg side – both hurtled away to the fine-leg boundary for byes. Lyon, though, exhibited great control and set in motion a collapse. After being denied thrice by DRS, he removed both Pujara and Rohit Sharma in three overs before tea. Pant then announced himself with a devil-may-care mow against Lyon’s offbreak over mid-on, and launched the second session of the day with four successive hoicked boundaries off the same bowler.Lyon, though, would not be cowed. He dangled up his next ball wide of off – possibly wider than a set of stumps outside off – and had Pant carving a catch to sweeper cover for 28 off 16 balls. He pressed onto bag his 13th five-wicket haul – and sixth against India – but might have to do similarly good work with the bat if Australia are to pull off a final-day jailbreak.
