Vindication was sweet for Pat Cummins after Australia bowled India out within the final day at the MCG to go 2-1 up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series heading into the final match in Sydney.
Cummins attracted plenty of criticism for not declaring late on day four with his last pair batting on for a few overs on Sunday morning to set India 340 for victory.
The skipper then struck twice early to tear the heart out of India’s top order as the Aussies wore down the tourists with a superb all-round bowling effort, taking 7-43 in the final session to bowl their opponents out for 155 to record a 184-run triumph for the ages.
Yashashvi Jaiswal rescued India from a precarious 3-33 and they looked to be heading for a draw before Rishabh Pant threw his wicket away to a half-tracker from Travis Head’s part-time off-spinners.
Jaiswal fell late in the day in controversial circumstances when he appeared to glove a hook shot to Alex Carey off Cummins but even though Snicko did not produce audio evidence, he was given out by the third umpire based on vision which showed a deflection.
His dismissal left India with 21 overs to face and three tail-end wickets in hand and the task proved too much for them in front of a record-breaking crowd of more than 70,000 fans flooded to the MCG to bring the total for the match well beyond the previous mark of 350,534 which was set in the 1936-37 Ashes series, when Sir Donald Bradman was in his prime.
Jaiswal irate over controversial dismissal
Jaiswal dug in for 208 deliveries when some of his more senior teammates provided little resistance and he appeared on the verge of saving the match for India after making his way to 84.
With 22 overs remaining, he attempted a hook off a Cummins bouncer but the ball appeared to flick his glove before Carey dived forward to claim the catch.
Australia’s long-time nemesis, Joel Wilson, initially gave the opener not out but Cummins immediately reviewed and third umpire Sharfuddoula from Bangladesh scrutinised the evidence from every angle and said he could see “a clear deflection”.
“I can see the ball has made contact with the gloves.”
When it came time for Snicko to gauge any sound from the incident, there was no visible spike but Sharfuddoula still instructed Wilson to reverse his decision.
Pat Cummins celebrates with teammates the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Jaiswal vehemently protested to the on-field umpires but was told to make his way to the pavilion.
Australian legend Mark Waugh was adamant on Fox Cricket commentary that the third umpire had made the right call.
“I think it’s a fair decision by the third umpire. I think it brushed the bat and the glove. Maybe Jaiswal didn’t feel it and Snicko didn’t register it either but visually you can see the deflection,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe young Jaiswal couldn’t feel that he actually hit it. He stood there, I think he’ll learn from that. It’s a pretty clear deflection, I’m not sure how it was given not out in the first place. Clearly out.
Jaiswal had the rub of the green earlier in his innings when he was on 31, getting the benefit of a helluva lot of doubt on a Starc LBW claim.
Wilson had given it not out and DRS showed it would have hit the top of leg stump but because the bails aren’t factored into the technology’s ball projections, the verdict was umpire’s call so the original decision stood.
Cummins keeps his cool to come up trumps
Cummins will never be considered as one of the shrewdest tacticians on Australia’s honour roll of captains but his results are up there with the very best.
His decision to bat on at the end of day four and into day five was criticised heavily because it meant Indian top order avoided a late spell before stumps and in the end, the tourists only had to survive 92 overs after Nathan Lyon was out for 41 to end Australia’s second innings on 234.
Cummins now has 19 wins, six draws and only seven losses from his 32 Tests in charge since assuming the captaincy in rather abrupt circumstances from Tim Paine a little more than three years ago.
His bowling changes were exemplary throughout the Test, none more so on day five when giving Head a spin proved to be the perfect partnership breaker.
Cummins claimed 3-28 from 18 high-quality overs, Boland bagged 3-39 to enhance his MCG reputation even further while Starc soldiered on through the pain of his back injury to more than hold up his role, snaring the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli. He was coy after the match about whether he will be fit for the fifth Test, saying he will “deal with that tomorrow”.
For his six wickets and pair of crucial 40s with the bat in the match, Cummins won the Johnny Mullagh Medal ahead of Steve Smith for his 140 and Jasprit Bumrah’s nine-wicket haul.
The challenge now for Cummins and the Aussies is to back up this famous win with another one at the SCG to wrest back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, even though a draw will now be enough.
Sharma a goner, Kohli on way out
Rohit Sharma’s Test career is surely either over or the SCG Test will be his final match for India with the skipper sadly out of form.
Sharma was the first Indian batter out on Sunday, out for nine, with most of those runs scored accidentally via edges through the cordon.
His painful 40-ball struggle was ended when he played across the line to Cummins for the second time in the match and Mitchell Marsh juggled cleanly in the gully to snare a sharp chance.
Rohit Sharma looks dejected after being dismissed by Pat Cummins. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
KL Rahul nicked off a few balls later to Cummins and the stage was set for Virat Kohli to show there is life in his old legs.
But he also never settled at the crease and he nicked his 29th delivery to Usman Khawaja at first slip to give Mitchell Starc his first wicket of the Test.
Sharma has made just 619 runs this year at 24.76 while Kohli’s returns are 417 at 24.52, boosted from even more mediocre numbers by his drought-breaking ton at Perth last month.
Pant soils his reputation even further
A few days after being labelled “stupid, stupid, stupid” for his rash shot in the first innings, when he was caught on the deep third boundary while trying to ramp, Pant clearly doesn’t think he needs to play a more conservative style.
Pant had lasted 102 deliveries to stall Australia’s victory march but the next one was the rankest of long-hops from Head which he could not resist tonking into the deep.
The only problem was that he found Marsh lurking in the outer and he juggled athletically for the second time in the innings to claim the crucial wicket of the Indian keeper for 30.
Scott Boland claimed Ravindra Jadeja from a steep leg-cutter for two soon after and Nathan Lyon chimed in with Nitish Kumar Reddy’s wicket for one to a diving Steve Smith and India had gone from 3-121 to being in deep trouble at 6-130.
Jaiswal’s dismissal put Australia into the tail and Boland again struck in the first over of a spell when Akash Deep inside-edged him to Head at short leg.
With one hour and 15 overs remaining and the new ball just three overs away, Sundar and Bumrah faced a mammoth task to avoid defeat.
But the end came swiftly with Bumrah registering a pair when he edged Boland to the safe hands of Smith and Mohammed Siraj also went without scoring after he was trapped in front by Lyon.
There was a delay to celebrations as Siraj tried his luck with the third umpire but the three reds on the big screen signalled the end of India’s resistance and kick-started wild scenes among the Australians in front of the huge crowd.