Sydney: In pursuit of the victory target of 349, India’s batsmen endured some intense pressure from Australia’s bowlers to secure a draw in the fouth and final Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Australia who defeated India in Adelaide and Brisbane won the series 2-0 and claimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Here is how the action unfolded
India crept to lunch at 73 for one chasing an unlikely 349 for victory as Australia’s bowlers ramped up the pressure on a turning pitch on the fifth day.
Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay showed a lot more intent and upped India’s scoring rate in the post lunch session. While Rohit once again looked to attack Nathan Lyon, Vijay hit some crisp shots to keep the scorecard moving.
There were clear indications that Australia were desperate for wickets. The desperation just went a bit overboard when Shaun Marsh, fielding at short-cover, could not latch onto a difficult chance to end Vijay’s inning off Ryan Harris’ bowling.
The Indian batsman hit the next ball straight to Ryan Harris and in anger, the bowler threw it back towards the batsman only to give India a four off the overthrow.
Just when the things were starting to hot up a bit for Australia, skipper Steven Smith took a stunner in the slips, flying towards his right side, to dismiss Rohit Sharma off Shane Watson’s bowling.
Virat Kohli then joined Murali Vijay in the middle. Initially, the duo did not launch into an attack. In fact, Vijay was lucky to survive a huge LBW shout and two failed attempts of reverse-sweeping Lyon.
But after crossing fifty, the Tamil Nadu batsman took on Lyon smashing him for two fours and a six. India went into the tea break with 189 runs to win in 33 overs.
The Vijay-Virat duo were quick to start the final session the match and of the Test series scoring quickly. But Vijay’s vigil was cut short by Josh Hazlewood when the right-arm pacer got him out for 80.
Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane had their share of nervous moments amidst some banter and boundaries. But the pair batted on untill Kohli tried to chase one outside the off-stump in attempt to reach his fifty.
His attempted drive though only ended up in slips where Watson took a fine catch to provide Australia their fourth wicket.
Suresh Raina, followed Kohli in the dressing room without wasting much time. The left-hander had scored a duck in the first innings and the same pattern followed in the second as he was trapped before the wickets by Mitchell Starc.
Wriddhimann Saha joined Rahane in the middle as Australia started to chip towards victory. The wicketkeeper-batsman though fell prey to Nathan Lyon as the ball kept low and trapped the Indian LBW.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who scored a fifty in the first innings, offered some resistance battling out 22 balls for one. But his effort came to an end when Hazlewood trapped him before the wickets.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar who came in to bat at number nine though batted sensibly and accompanied Ajinkya Rahane for 12 overs as the duo guided India towards a draw.
Rahane, who is one of the better Indian batsmen of the current generation, displayed maturity and more importantly the hunger to stay put and defy Australia’s pursuit to win the series 3-0.
Earlier, the hosts declared their second innings closed at 251-6 before the start of play, leaving their bowlers the entire final day at the Sydney Cricket Ground to dismiss the tourists and take the series 3-0.
Lokesh Rahul was the one batsman to fall for 16 and his fellow opener Murali Vijay, who had made 35, and Rohit Sharma (19) will resume after the break still 276 runs from their goal.
India had promised to go for victory despite the highest successful fourth innings run chase in a test at the Sydney Cricket Ground being the 288-2 scored by South Africa in 2006.
The first 56 minutes went reasonably well as Vijay and Rahul put on 48 runs before off-spinner Nathan Lyon claimed the first of what Australia hopes will be a bagful of wickets on a humid day.
Rahul, who grabbed his maiden Test century in India’s first innings 475, was deceived by a bit of bounce and the ball clipped his glove and looped into the hands of David Warner at backward short leg.
Rohit was centimetres away from a golden duck on the following delivery but the third umpire decided he had just got his foot back into the crease before wicketkeeper Brad Haddin broke the stumps with a ball that had drifted past his bat.
There followed half an hour of scoreless siege as Lyon and paceman Josh Hazlewood, who was starting to get some reverse swing, bowled six straight maidens.
Rohit finally broke the drought to get off the mark with a single off Lyon but the disciplined Hazlewood conceded just one run in his five-over spell.
A four and a six on consecutive balls off Lyon was a reminder that Rohit can bat a bit when he throws off the shackles but there were few expansive shots as he and Vijay safely saw out the first session.
Steve Smith, who scored 769 runs at the average of 128.17, won the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards.
