Aussies’ great escape

Starting the day at a nervy 23/2 in reply to India’s 603/9 declared, Australia were 204/6 in 100 overs in their second innings when the two teams decided to end the proceedings. The visitors managed to hold on thanks largely to Peter Handscomb and Shaun Marsh’s gritty vigil at the crease. 

Handscomb (72 not out) and Marsh (53) combined to share a 124-run fifth-wicket partnership to steer Australia to safety after the cheap dismissal of skipper Steve Smith (21) and Matt Renshaw (15) had given the visitors’ dressing room moments of anxiety. 

Marsh was eventually dismissed by India’s bowling star Ravindra Jadeja, who continued his purple patch to finish with figures of 4/54. Handscomb dropped the anchor and remained unbeaten after holding the fort for 200 deliveries. With this result, the series remained locked at 1-1 setting up a mouth-watering finale in Dharamsala, starting March 25.

 The hill town would be hosting its maiden Test match. The simmering tensions between the two sides have only added to the drama with today being no exception. There was animated exchange between Renshaw and Ishant in the latest round of verbal altercations before the Indian pacer had the last laugh by trapping the opener LBW. 

Ishant cramped Renshaw for room with a full length delivery that trapped the left-hander right on front. Ishant exulted with an animated celebration and capped the brilliant over with a bouncer to Marsh, which hit the batsman’s ribs. 

After Jadeja dismissed captain Steve Smith with a peach of a delivery that spun across the defensive bat of the Aussie to knock the off-stump, the visitors found themselves at a rather precarious 63/4 in a gripping end to the first session on the fifth and final day. 

On the field, Smith’s ploy to give his top four the maximum workload when they bowled 206 overs meant that Indian could not score quick runs. By batting 200-plus overs and with a lead of just over 150, India had no more than 100 overs to force a result. But Jadeja gave the side a good shot at a result by using the wearing track brilliantly. He cleaned up Smith after Ishant’s dismissal of Renshaw in an eventful 29th over. 

Surprisingly, Kohli brought Jadeja only after 11 overs in the post-lunch session even though Ashwin looked ineffective on the flat deck. The return of Jadeja led to India bowling four maiden overs in a row from 50th to 53rd overs. But the Aussie duo did not mind the slow flow of runs and were successful in the recovery act in the second session that yielded 66 from 33 overs but more importantly without any wicket. 

Handscomb survived a scare on six when his flick to short leg was nearly caught by Karun Nair, the only blip in an otherwise clean knock.