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Welcome to our live blog of the Boxing Day Test. If India win at the MCG, they retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. If Australia triumph, they remain on course for a first series win over India in a decade.
A defeat for the home side willl raise eyebrows while if India lose, their WTC fortune is out of their hands, although retaining the series trophy would still be possible. With a favourable forecast, a draw looks improbable, particularly given the ground’s recent history. The action set to unfold could take place in front of more than 90,000 spectators.
Take a bow, Nitish Reddy! Spunky hundred at the MCG.
Few nervous moments close to the milestone as he was stranded at the non-striker's end with No.10 Siraj asked to defend three balls, but it was written in the stars.
India have staged a solid recovery in the Boxing Day Test.
— Guerilla Cricket (@guerillacricket.bsky.social) December 28, 2024 at 12:00 PM
The obdurate left-hander falls after reaching his fifty as Lyon extracts bounce from the MCG deck. He lunged forward even though the length was not that full, and the ball caught the shoulder of the bat to spring to slip where Smith crocodile-jawed the catch.
Nonetheless, it was a marvelous exhibition of patience and application from Washington, who shared a 127-run alliance with Nitish Reddy. A very important stand from India’s perspective because they were down and out at 221/7.
The partnership between Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy is going from strength to strength, although the left-right combo has been cautious in their approach as the rain break provided the Australian attack a breather. Reddy is into the nineties while Washington has played 150 balls for his half-century, which has been an epitome of patience given he has hit only a single boundary.
Highest partnerships for India for the last three wickets in Australia before this Test:
Sachin-Harbhajan – 129 for 8th wicket – SCG, 2008
Kumble-Harbhajan – 107 for 8th wicket – Adelaide, 2008
Gavaskar-Shivlal Yadav – 94 for 10th wicket – Adelaide, 1985
Superb recovery from India. Reddy has been brilliant, mixing attack and defence, while Sundar is playing the perfect foil to him. While the partnership has reached the three-figure mark, there’s still a long way to go. The second new ball has not done much as the pitch is apparently getting better to bat as the game rolls on.
After three 40+ scores, Nitish Kumar Reddy earns his maiden Test fifty👏
Great show of character from the young lad throughout the series as his run tally in the ongoing BGT crosses 250🚀#INDvsAUS #CricketTwitter #BGT2024 pic.twitter.com/ASvVN9CwPW
— Aryan Surana (@iamaryansurana) December 28, 2024
The new ball is bound to produce some drama and a chance is created straightaway. Would have been an absurd way to be dismissed for Washington but Smith puts him down at second slip.
Full and sliding down leg, Sundar fancies a flick as the bottom hand comes off the bat handle, the ball hits the back side of the bat and flies low to second slip, much to the astonishment of Smith who dives across with one hand and can’t cling on. Will go down as a dropped chance though!
The second new ball is available now and has been taken immediately. Mitchell Starc to brandish the hard new rock. Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy have batted sensibly to add 40, with the latter, who has scored over 200 runs in this series at a very healthy strike-rate of 70, being the more proactive of the two.
Enterprise and ebullience have marked Nitish Reddy’s impactful knocks in this series. Once he’s in he makes it a point to keep the scoreboard moving. Uses his feet, gets close to the pitch of the flighted delivery from Lyon and smashes it downtown for a flat six. Long-on was a bit wide and therefore he hit the ball nice and straight.
Lyon was posing problems for Jadeja and he has the last laugh in that head-to-head contest via a tight grouping of balls. Jadeja has been trapped in front but after a discussion with Reddy, he opts for the review. Seems adjacent to the naked eye, although height could be a factor.
Was the slider on a length from Lyon that came in with the arm from outside off, Jadeja was hurried by the ball and tried tucking it around the corner but failed to make a connection. Snicko shows a clear gap between bat and ball. Over to ball-tracking and hitting is umpire’s call.
Jadeja will consider himself a tad unfortunate, but Lyon’s mastery over his craft comes to the fore as his subtle pace variations and metronomic accuracy dislodge the southpaw.
Nitish Reddy has been one of India’s key performers with the bat in this series, and the confidence is evident in his presence in the middle. Has played the ball on its merit and India will aspire he builds a strong partnership with Jadeja.
It would have been an ideal first hour for India had Pant not gifted his wicket away, although many would argue that boom-or-bust is his style. What his wicket did was give Australia an opening as India are still 271 runs behind. Lyon is troubling Jadeja and that will be a battle to keep an eye on in the next hour.
The kind of extremely unconventional shots Pant plays every now and then he always runs the risk of looking silly if they don’t come off.
This is one such instance where the funkiness spelt doom for the X-factor cricketer. Boland goes round the wicket and bowls it full around off, Pant crouches low and attempts the scoop, gets a top-edge which flies down to third man, Lyon barely had to move as he receives the regulation chance.
India had had the better of the opening exchanges in the first hour and Pant was now well set but he has squandered an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution when India desperately needed one.
Pant’s game hinges on daredevilry but there must be some smartness sprinkled on it. He missed the previous ball with his attempted lap shot. There were fielders at third man, fine leg and deep backward square. He got into a tangle while trying to execute the ramp and fell to the ground – suggesting he was never going to be in any reasonable control of the audacious stroke.
India have scored 16 runs hitherto on the third morning and all of them have come from Pant’s willow. Jadeja though has looked in control and that’s what India expect from the man in form.
He even saw through a testing over from Cummins where the Australian skipper was playing mind games by changing the field every ball and mixing up the delivery angles.
