India showed grit and grace on the third day of the ongoing Test in Brisbane as they almost caught up with Australia’s 1st innings total. This series has been nothing less than anything inspiring as time and time India bounced back with some exceptional performances. While India were straddling at 186 for six, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur’s record stand truly opened up the game.
It has to be mentioned that ever since Virat Kohli’s departure post the first Test, India have shown great character, spirit and they never gave up. While it was Ajinkya Rahane in Melbourne, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari stood up in Sydney.
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Coming to Australia’s fortress, the Gabba in Brisbane, debutants Sundar and T Natarajan alongside Shardul Thakur became the cynosure. With three wickets each among them, the inexperienced bowling attack choked Australia to 369.
Batting on a hard and fast cracked up pitch, Sundar and Thakur’s blades sliced, drove, pierced, swatted and punched every delivery thrown at them. Facing one of the best bowling attacks, if not the best attack in the world the duos 7th wicket partnership brought India neck to neck with the hosts.
Sundar, who last played a first-class game in 2017, brought up his maiden Test fifty on debut. Thakur was the more belligerent one in the partnership as he also struck his maiden Test fifty. The duo surpassed the previous seventh-wicket record for India at the Gabba of 58, set by Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar in 199.
Sundar’s 62 became the highest score by a visiting number 7 debutant in Tests in Australia. Once the partnership broke, the hosts struck in quick succession as India finished on 336. Josh Hazelwood was the star with the ball as he picked up a fifer.
Earlier, India started the day with Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara at the creae. After a confident start both the batters nicked behind to slip and the keeper respectively. A little fight from Mayank Agarwal and Rishabh Pant saw the run rate up by a few clicks, but it was the 7th wicket partnership of 123 runs from 217 balls that saved India.
Australia played five overs before stumps on Day 3 of the fourth Test, with David Warner (20) and Marcus Harris (1) unbeaten. Australia now lead by 54 runs.
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