Pat Cummins dismantles India in the never-ending rain

BRISBANE: India is in dire straits after losing five wickets on Tuesday, in another day of test cricket plagued by rain. However, victory isn’t assured for Australia. With one day remaining, the Aussies will need to dismiss one more batter, put up a respectable score, and then take India’s 10 wickets in their second innings, all within 90 overs to avoid a tie.

A combination of rain and bad light meant only 57.5 overs were played on Tuesday, day four of the third test. But, that was enough for Australia to take five more wickets, putting India one dismissal away from an end to their first innings.

In the seventh over of the day, Cummins took his second wicket of the innings, dismissing Rohit Sharma on a leg cutter that clipped the edge of the Indian skippers’ bat before wicket-keeper Alex Carey took the catch. Sharma only managed to make 10 runs before being sent off.

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KL Rahul had more success. The Indian batter made 84 runs off 139 deliveries, brining up the 17th half century of his test career, before he was dismissed in the 43rd over. Rahul would attempt to play Nathon Lyon’s delivery past slip, but a superb reaction from Steven Smith would lead to a diving one-handed catch.

After a couple of delays, courtesy of the rain, Cummins would take another wicket, bowling Nitish Kumar Reddy with a delivery that nicked the inside edge of his bat before ricocheting onto the stumps.

Following another delay due to the never-ending rain, Starc would take his third wicket of the innings, dismissing Mohammed Siraj on a delivery that got a thick edge, forcing Carey to dive to his rick to make the catch. A couple overs later, Cummins would take his third wicket of the day and his fourth of the innings, dismissing Ravindra Jadeja on a delivery that the Indian batter pulled towards deep square. Mitchell Marsh ran in and took diving catch, putting India one more dismissal away from a disappointing end to their first innings. Jadeja put up 77 much-needed runs for India, the second highest score out of their line-up after Rahul.

India currently trail by 193 runs. They stand at 252 for 9 at the end of day 4.

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