India is one victory away from retaining the coveted Border-Gavaskar Trophy after the rain-marred third Test at the Gabba ended in a draw, despite an audacious bid by Australia to at least make a match of it on the final day in Brisbane.
Australia denied in third Test draw after India bowlers expose familiar frailties
- Australia 445 & 89-7; India 260 & 8-0 at the Gabba
- Play ends early on day five after hosts suffer top-order collapse
First of all, you have to say “fair play” to Australia for making a game of it. Losing some time out of day five of the Brisbane Test was already inevitable with the weather forecast. But when most of the first session disappeared due to lightning precautions and then rain, it seemed sure that any hope of a contest had gone too. Instead Australia came back from an early lunch break looking to smash quick runs, then set India 275 to win in 54 overs. It was a great set up, until rain returned to end the fourth innings just after it had begun.
Looking past that boldness, though, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the helter-skelter of Australia’s second innings was a boon to India. Another crop of wickets for the visiting bowlers, and another failure apiece were chalked up next to the names of Australia’s specialist bats.
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Root has a live chat from his hotel in New Zealand. It’s just gone 8am there, the morning after the Test series ended, and he’s looking a little bleary-eyed. Only once, in 2021, has he scored more runs than he has this year. “It’s been a hell of a journey, but it seems to get more and more enjoyable,” he says.
Jimmy Anderson on Root. You won’t get many better quotes than this.
I can’t think of a better role model for the game of cricket. I’ve got children, I’d love for them to grow up and be that sort of person.
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Australia frustrated as India avoid follow-on on quirky day four of Brisbane Test
- Third Test, day four: Australia 445; India 252-9
- Australia checked by resilient batting and rain
It’s that time again. Not the time when the cricket enthusiasts are paying attention, because we always are – June in Barbados, August in Galle, whatever you’ve got. No, it’s the brief time either side of Christmas when the cricket is high profile enough that everybody outside our odd community also becomes vaguely aware it exists. “Who’s winning?” I’ve been asked twice this week, that dreaded question that gets lobbed from hallways over the backs of couches to torment those of us who know that nobody is ever winning a Test match, they have either won it or not won it. All we have to comfort us is our smug superiority; which is, granted, a consolation.
On the fourth day of Australia’s Test against India at Brisbane, there was a further delight: the game within a game. For the uninitiate, this contest would have looked dead. Australia on 445, India resuming in the morning 394 runs behind and four wickets down. Soon to be five, the captain Rohit Sharma an early departure. Combine the gulf in scores with the rain that had taken the match into its fourth day without completing its second innings, and there was no chance for India to get towards parity and stay in the contest.
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