India experienced a scare in between when captain Jasprit Bumrah had to miss a significant portion of their bowling innings due to his transport to a nearby medical institution for scans.
With a 145-run lead in their second innings at the end of the second day, India was able to maintain a comparatively strong lead in the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia began the day by building on their overnight score of 9/1 in an attempt to exploit India’s low first innings total. However, the strategy failed when India’s coordinated bowling effort held Australia to 181, four runs below India’s total. India took the lead in the first innings because to contributions from Jasprit Bumrah (2 for 33), Mohammed Siraj (3 for 51), Prasidh Krishna (3 for 42), and Nitish Kumar Reddy (2 for 32). If it weren’t for rookie Beau Webster (57 off 105), who forged crucial alliances with the lower order to keep Australia inching, they may have been dismissed for less.
To the side’s relief, Jasprit Bumrah eventually went back to the ground.
With four fours in the opening over of the second innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal destroyed Mitchell Starc, giving India a strong start. Jaiswal and KL’s initial collaboration Before Scott Boland (4 for 42) caused a collapse, Rahul appeared to be on track. India dropped from 42 for 0 to 59 for 3 after Boland claimed the first three wickets. Let’s introduce Rishabh Pant.
Rishabh Pant (61 off 33) rushed down the ground and smacked Scott Boland for six on the first ball he faced, showing little concern for the apparent collapse. Pant completed his fifty in just 29 balls by maintaining his intensity throughout his innings, but he fell shortly after. Pant spared almost every Australian bowler with his knock, which included six fours and four sixes.
Following Pant’s dismissal, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja made sure that India had a 145-run lead and was through to the stumps with little further damage.
Here are the best stats highlights from the day –
1 – With 32 wickets in the series, Jasprit Bumrah has broken Bishan Singh Bedi’s record for the most wickets by an Indian bowler in a single Test series away from home. Bedi took 31 in the 1977/78 series against Australia.
1 – Jasprit Bumrah’s 32 wickets have equalled the record for the most wickets by a bowler in a single edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Harbhajan Singh had also taken 32 in the 2001 edition of the BGT.
5 – Today marked the fifth time in Test cricket that Scott Boland had taken Virat Kohli’s wicket. Kohli is now the batter that Boland has dismissed the most times in his brief Test career.
6 – Rishabh Pant became the sixth Indian batter to hit a six on the first ball he faced in a Test innings. The most recent player before him was Rohit Sharma against Bangladesh in Kanpur.
2 – Rishabh Pant’s 29-ball fifty is the second fastest ever for India in Tests. The record for the fastest Test fifty by an Indian is also held by Pant who had gotten to the mark in 28 balls against Sri Lanka in 2022.
1 – Rishabh Pant is now the first batter in the world to reach a Test fifty in less than 30 balls twice.
1 – Rishabh Pant’s strike rate of 184.84 in this innings is the highest by an Indian player in a single Test innings of 50 runs or more.
3 – Rishabh Pant is now the third player ever to score 50 or more runs in a Test innings at a strike rate of 150 or more twice. Viv Richards and Ben Stokes are the others.
India
