Seems the Cricket Kermit clip has earned me the hook. Thanks for joining us on the hayride from hell that was this second innings run chase at Indore. India will swing from their own petard until the fourth Test kicks off on March 9 but Australia can party hearty knowing they’re in with a chance of squaring the series. Let’s hope the Cummins Clan catch some glow from a famous victory too.
That’s me out folks. Cheers for your company these past few days and see you in Ahmedabad in a week’s time. I’ll be wearing a white carnation.
Our OBO readers are popping corks from Clovelly to Kolkata…
Gervase Greene asks: “Travis Head won’t always come off, sure, but surely he is too lethal when it does to leave him out? (And me and plenty others have long said the same about Glenn Maxwell. Is there still an Ashes tour left for him?”
I too long to see “The Big Show” back as a knight in white satin. But I think in Travis Head we have our ‘Middle-Order Mayhem Man Who Bowls a Bit’. Let’s hope Maxy gets some runs in the minor leagues to win a ticket to the UK as Travis 2.0.
From the subcontinent, Sandeep says: “This is the reason why Australia is No 1 side. India’s famed batting line up is only good against minnows. Every run scored by them is expensive. Just keep paying them. Nothing else.”
Dunno about that, Sandeep. India’s batting looked OK in Tests 1 & 2.
Darryl agrees the home side got their comeuppance: “Shameful gamesmanship from Ashwin, rushing the man on strike and whining about the state of the new ball (two new balls in fact). Perhaps the larger lesson for India is that conniving with their groundsmen to create unplayable pitches cuts both ways. It’s been a karmic pleasure to see blatant unfairness served up its just punishment.”
There’ll be plenty in agreement, Darryl. Maybe Team India can realign their karmic balance at Ahmedabad with a green top? Not that it’s easy being green…
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And Nathan Lyon has won Man of the Match. “Gaz” claims that even after 468 Test wickets he hasn’t yet mastered the art of off-spin but offers thee handy words of encouragement to young’uns: “If you believe in your best ball over and over you’ll be able to challenge the best batters in the world.”
Here’s how the cricket lovers at India’s Sports Today saw the GOAT’s greatness.
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Usman Khawaja has won ‘Gamechanger of the Match’ for his virtuoso innings of 60 in the first innings and his sharp catch to dismiss danger man Shreyas Iyer for 26 last night. It’s a big cheque that won’t fit in the overhead compartment on the Jetstar flight home. Might need to mail it home instead, Uzzie. Do those giant cheques comes with a giant envelope?
https://www.cricket.com.au/video/usman-khawaja-incredible-catch-shreyas-iyer-india-australia-day-two-third-test-indore/2023-03-02
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Not only but also… that victory confirms Australia’s spot in the World Test Championship to be played at The Oval in London in June.
Despite losing the first two Tests, Australia had hung onto their No 1 world ranking but a 4-0 sweep by India might’ve put them at risk of missing out on the WTC in heartbreaking circumstances.
India remain their likely adversaries in the WTC final. Australia’s victory at Indore also puts pressure on India to restore their ascendency with victory at Ahmedabad. Captain Rohit Sharma had brashly claimed India would win at Indore and then use the fourth Test to experiment by doctoring a green pitch to prepare for the WTC, which is expected to favour seam bowlers more than spin.
Rohit is choking on those words now.
A short day’s cricket but a merry one! Here’s the official report while we await the pearls of Geoff Lemon’s prose to wrap it all up.
Steve Smith can be proud of his team and his captaincy in this Test. Until the infamous sandpaper saga derailed his career, Smith was that rare example of a master batter whose form actually improved with the burden of captaincy.
Leading into this Test, Smith averaged 67.73 with the bat as captain, but only a mere 55.33 as a player. And India has always been a happy hunting ground for him, with the 2017 series arguably his most magnificent as skipper. However, if he can build on this incredible victory at Indore, capped off by that catch of Pujara last night, and notch another in Ahmedabad, this 2023 series may surpass it.
Australia win the third Test at Indore by nine wickets
Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head finish it off in style to get the series back to 2-1 and restore some much-needed pride in the baggy green cap after heavy defeats at Nagpur and Delhi. Set 76 runs to win, Australia suffered an early blow when Usman Khawaja was dismissed on the second ball of the day. But Head and Labuschagne patiently mounted the comeback and then accelerated the chase with some wonderful hitting to all parts of the ground. On a pitch heavily-favouring India’s spinners, the home side have been undone by their own devilry. India batted like a team who had already won the Trophy, with loose shots and impatience across both innings. Having been pilloried in the press since their abject collapse in Delhi, Australia have showed resolve and character to now inflict a heavy defeat in return, one of the greatest victories in a decade. The heroes were Usman Khawaja, whose chanceless 60 set Australia up and Nathan Lyon whose eight wickets in the second innings (11 for the match) kept India’s lead to a mole hill not a mountain. Head and Labuschagne put on a great show of pyrotechnic batting today to put chasten India further and set us up for what will be a memorable fourth Test showdown at Ahmedabad from March 9.
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Key event
19th over: Australia 78-1 (Head 49, Labuschagne 28) Australia win the third Test by nine wickets
Head hits out! That four was the shot of a man in rude form. Inexplicably dropped for the first Test, he’s returned in an unfamiliar position and hit Australia to victory at Indorer, a roaring riposte to the selectors and a warning shot to England that Australia have their own BazBall exponent for this upcoming Ashes. That said, with a flicked four over mid-on, it is Labuschagne who hits the winning runs.
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18th over: Australia 69-1 (Head 44, Labuschagne 24) 7 runs to win. India look to be paying the price for a liberal dash of arrogance in this Test. At 2-0 up in the series, they were uncharacteristically loose in their batting across both innings. Meanwhile, Australia are finally seeing a return on some strong moments amid a disappointing whole. Labuschagne celebrates the fact with another boundary.
17th over: Australia 64-1 (Head 43, Labuschagne 20) 12 runs to win. Head has a heave! But he misses. Instead he contents himself with flexing his wrists at the next ball from Ashwin and running it backward of square for a single. “Heave” is a marvellous cricketing term forever immortalised by the great New Zealand big-hitter and his immortal autobiography with the inimitable title: ‘Give It a Heave’. Of course Dean Jones took the term “heave” and gave it a different gravitas in his famous Madras double-century Labuschagne and Head trade another couple of singles as Australia bound toward glory.
16th over: Australia 61-1 (Head 41, Labuschagne 19) 15 runs to win. Crack goes Head! He didn’t get full purchase on that cut shot but he had the angle just right and it scooted past the fielder and ran away to the rope. The introduction of Umesh Yadav’s pace, so devastating in the first innings, can’t stop the Australian onslaught in the second. To the contrary, it may be accelerating it. With Head’s single from the fifth, it’ll be five runs from the over. India bleeding out.
“Rocket” has been in touch about my ‘food for thought’ factoid about India trying to create Test cricket history by defending 75. I had England doing the defending not Australia! Apologies, Rocket and forgive me Fred Spofforth!
Australia defended 85 - Spofforth and Boyle getting England out for 77 at The Oval - the Test Match that essentially created “The Ashes”.
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15th over: Australia 56-1 (Head 36, Labuschagne 19) 20 runs to win. Head butts another boundary with a stabbing cut shot off Ashwin. Then he scoops a strange sand wedge down the ground which the fielder collects at long on. Another single. If Head has thrust the knife between India’s ribs here, Labuschagne twists it, reverse sweeping Ashwin for another four. India are dropping their heads and Australia are now in sight of a famous victory. Drinks.
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14th over: Australia 45-1 (Head 29, Labuschagne 15) 31 runs to win. Lovely late cut from Head to the boundary. That was pure finesse not power. But he shows he’ got the latter by skipping down and floating one over the inner-circle for a single from the last to keep the strike.
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13th over: Australia 40-1 (Head 24, Labuschagne 15) 36 runs to win. India hate the ball, Head loves it. After a slow start he’s now got 24 from 32 balls. Labuschagne is upping the ante too. he slams an Ashwin half-volley through cover for another boundary. Have Australia got through the toughest period?
12th over: Australia 35-1 (Head 23, Labuschagne 11) 41 runs to win. Head hammers another one! Jadeja delivered it full and Head got his feet to the pitch of it and punched it over the bowler’s head for another boundary. He’s hit 22 off the last two overs, the South Australian. And now Labuschagne is in on the act, sweeping Jadeja past deep square leg for four. Great shot and India feeling the pinch as Australia raise the tempo in the quest for a quick victory.
11th over: Australia 26-1 (Head 18, Labuschagne 7) 50 runs to win. Head hits out! Ashwin tossed it up and Head tonked it over mid-off and into the boundary. He saw the opportunity and seized it. Ashwin is complaining about the ball again. Is his a ‘change the ball-change your luck’ mentality? India are griping but the umpires are telling them to make do. Travis Head certainly likes this new ball – based on that lovely boundary he’s seeing it larger than the last one. In fact, hiss con fidence sees him chance a second run. India appeal but he’s home. Good positive action from Australia and Head makes it count, marching down and heaving Ashwin all the way this time. MASSIVE SIX! He takes a single from the last to make it 11 from the over. Australia has 33% of the runs needed now
10th over: Australia 13-1 (Head 5, Labuschagne 7) 63 runs to win. Very strange! It looks like we’re going to have a change of ball here. The box of cherries is out and the umpires are testing each for shine and juice. They make a decision and throw Ashwin the newbie. He seemed to be doing just fine with the last one, particularly to the left-handers Khawaja and Head. Will this curious turn of events favour India or Australia?
10th over: Australia 13-1 (Head 5, Labuschagne 7) 63 runs to win. Australia turn the screws, slowly and surely. They have been resolute in their defence this morning, with rash shots nowhere to be seen. The ball is turning a mile and they refuse to risk hitting against such prodigious spin. Labuschagne plays out a maiden from Jadeja. The atmosphere is dripping with tension on field and off.
9th over: Australia 13-1 (Head 5, Labuschagne 7) 63 runs to win. Australia have knocked off 15% of the total with the loss of one wicket this morning. That puts them fractionally ahead, no? Ravi Ashwin doesn’t think so. His fifth over is so fiercely conducted he’s cut his run-up from five steps to two. Labuschagne returns the gamesmanship, stepping away to make him wait. Tension building here, almost spilling over as Rohit Sharma steps in to see what Marnus’s issue is. Ashwin is fuming. He strides back ten paces and delivers another dart. Labuschagne skips to meet it, nullifying any threat. Then he doubles down to the last, hot-stepping down to drive a single to mid-on.
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8th over: Australia 11-1 (Head 4, Labuschagne 6) 65 runs to win. Australia going along quietly here. Head takes a single from the second Jadeja delivery and Marnus flat-bats the next three. Will these two try to do it in singles or will they open the shoulders and try and accelerate the run-rate to spread the field and put India’s bowlers under the pump?
7th over: Australia 10-1 (Head 3, Labuschagne 6) 66 runs to win. Here comes a fresh quiver of Ravi Ashwin arrows. But Labuschagne is watchful and careful. Ashwin is varying his length and pace, giving it air one ball, then trying a flatter trajectory on the next. There’s a big appeal to the fifth delivery here but it looked at first glance to be all pad. Rohit Sharma is being heavied by his teammates though, particularly leg slip catcher Virat Kohli who really put some mayo on that flying grab. India review it in the end but there’s no bat anywhere near it. Two reviews remaining for India, two for Australia.
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6th over: Australia 10-1 (Head 3, Labuschagne 6) 66 runs to win. Head faces Jadeja and he pivots to the second and it hits something and flies wide of leg slip. They scamper through and it’s a leg bye but it’s a run less to chase and that’s all that matters for Australia. Good running by Labuschagne to the last delivery. He dead-batted it and Head was flying in response. Australia are crowded by close-in fielders but they’re trying to put pressure on India too.
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5th over: Australia 8-1 (Head 3, Labuschagne 5) 68 runs to win. The crowd are roaring every dot as if it’s a hat-trick ball. And why not when Head is pushing with hard hands at Ashwin and squirting them short of slip? The fourth springs off a length and hits Head on the shoulder. The fifth is another rubber ball and Head leans back to cut but can’t get it away. A single from the last will suffice.
4th over: Australia 7-1 (Head 2, Labuschagne 5) 69 runs to win. Marnus taps a single! And yes I’ll be calling every run of this run chase with an exclamation mark. It’s dainty dab behind gully and it brings a nervy Head on strike. But after a couple of ropy defensive strokes he leans into the fourth and runs it past point for a run. The chase is under 70!
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3rd over: Australia 5-1 (Head 1, Labuschagne 4) Which Travis Head is facing Ravi Ashwin today? The cavalier counter-attacker with the crash, bang, wallop arsenal of shots? Or the senior man with responsibility on his shoulders and a small total to hunt down with calm and calculation? Difficult to say so far as he plays and misses at a couple, then dabs another to slip, and finally has an almighty whack at the last only to air swing. There’s a review by India here but that looked miles from the bat and his foot is firmly grounded. NOT OUT.
2nd over: Australia 5-1 (Head 1, Labuschagne 4) India draw first blood! But Australia respond with a first run to Head from Jadeja’s opening delivery and that will settle some nerves. Every journey of a million miles begins with a single step and Travis Head scoring a single from his first ball is a huge sign of confidence. Another big sigh of relief for Australia as Labuschagne leans back and cuts Jadeja to the rope for four. Top shot!
1st over: Australia 0-1 (Head 0, Labuschagne 0) Hold onto your hats, folks. This is going to be a thrill-ride. With Khawaja’s shock dismissal from just the second ball of the day by Ashwin, the world’s No 1 batter, Marnus Labuschagne is at the crease already, with the crowd screaming, Ashwin spearing in poison darts and close-in fielders muttering mayhem into his ears.
WICKET! Khawaja c. Bharat b. Ashwin (Australia 0-1)
Great balls of fire! Khawaja is gone second ball as Ashwin jags one past the outside edge and the wicketkeeper pouches it. Khawaja prodded forward but the ball hit a rough patch and sprang at him, grazing the bat as it went through. Khawaja reviewed and the tiniest tremor was detected on Snicko. GONE! If this run chase wasn’t exciting enough it’s now on a knife edge!
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Just to show you how easy – and difficult – it is to chase down 70-odd runs…
Smudge’s Golden Grab: Here’s another look at Steve Smith’s incredible catch to dismiss Pujara and the praise it drew from Nathan Lyon’s at last night’s presser. Is this the moment that wins Australia the Test at Indore?
Cheteshwar Pujara, who top-scored in India’s second innings with 59, last night give a hint on the mindset India will take into today and the challenge facing Australia’s batters:
“It’s a tough pitch to bat on. It’s not easy, you need to trust your defence, make sure you need to get to the pitch or if it’s short, play off the back foot. 75 may not be too many, but there’s a chance. You need to attack and defend, a mix on this pitch. If you keep defending, one ball will bounce and hit your glove.”
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Some food for thought… if India defend 76 runs today it will break the 141-year-old record of the lowest score ever defended by any team in Test cricket history, currently held by England in 1882 who defended 85 runs against Australia.
For those who came in late, here’s Geoff Lemon’s Day 2 report…
Preamble
Hello cricket lovers! Welcome back to Indore for the third – and final – day of this third Test between India and Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
We’ve had breathless cricket for the first two days – wickets tumbling, umpires fumbling, batters crumbling – and we have a breathtaking scenario on the table for today: Australia require 76 runs for victory. India need 10 wickets.
Ordinarily, it’d be cut and dry. Australia’s batters go out hard and lose a couple of wickets in the quest but chase 76 down easily. But nothing about this series has been ordinary, most of all Australia’s extraordinary batting collapses.
In Nagpur they lost six for 68 in the first innings and then the deeper implosion of 10 for 84 in the second. In Delhi, from a position of strength, they were shredded again, losing eight wickets for 28 runs. And here in Indore, after another bright start in which they batted patiently and built a valuable lead, they bled six for 11.
So make no mistake, folks: 76 runs today is an Everest.
India will back themselves to take 10 for 74 and win this Test. On a pitch in need of an exorcism, with a trio of hungry master spinners and cheered on by a home crowd, you’d better think twice before betting against them.
But a lot about this Australian side is improved. Cam Green’s selection has improved their batting and bowling. Nathan Lyon rediscovered his mojo to take 8-64 and stop India’s lead reaching triple figures. Steve Smith’s captaincy has been inspired, with astute bowling changes, good reviewing and a magnificent catch at slip last night to dismiss Cheteshwar Pujara for 59. And Travis Head opening today in place of David Warner inspires hope not dread.
Australia start favourites but India will fight to the last ball. If the first two Tests have proven anything, it’s that cricket in India can change very, very quickly. Where will the day take us? Who will pass the test and lead their team to victory?
We’re about to find out, so strap in and fire up! Play will be underway shortly.
