Published: Jan 09, 2015, 07:04 AM (IST)
Edited: Jan 09, 2015, 07:04 AM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
Jan 9, 2015
India have gone into lunch on Day Four of the fourth test against Australia at 407 for seven. Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the batsmen in the middle and they have batted time after India lost two big wickets in the morning session. Australia’s total of 572 still seems some distance away although India have managed to avoid the follow on.
India’s session began on a tough note as they lost Virat Kohli early for 147. Kohli, who looked so much in control of the game, played one off his pads straight into the hands of mid-wicket. He was livid at throwing it away and almost dragged himself off the field. Kohli held the key for India if they had to get anywhere close to the Australian total. They could not leave it to the lower order.
Wriddhiman Saha was gritty as usual and played a couple off good shots. One of the shots that stood out was a straight drive for four. Having shown good application against the short ball, he wasn’t able to sway away from a sharp one from Josh Hazlewood. He fended at it and the ball flew towards first slip, where Steven Smith finally took a catch.
Ashwin batted with his usual assured manner. He got off the mark with a four through mid-wicket and kept getting behind the line of the ball well. In Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he found an able partner as they held fort until lunch. It was Australia’s session one would say as they picked up two important wickets and conceded only 65 runs. Having said that, they would be privy to the fact that both Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar are gritty customers. They will have to dislodge them soon after lunch to maintain a good lead going into the second innings.
Brief scores:
Australia 572 for 7 decl. (Chris Rogers 95, David Warner 101, Steven Smith 117, Shane Watson 81; Shaun Marsh 73, Joe Burns 58; Mohammed Shami 5 for 112) lead India 407 for 7 (KL Rahul 110, Rohit Sharma 53, Virat Kohli 147; Mitchell Starc 2 for 98, Shane Watson 2 for 51) by 165 runs.
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(Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Correspondent with CricketCountry and anchor for the site’s YouTube Channel. His Twitter handle is @nishad_45)
