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Patna : India crushed Australia by 8 wickets in 2nd test at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia, on Day 4 of the match on December 29, 2020, to record a memorable victory after suffering a humiliating and demoralising defeat in the first test at Adelaide, Australia, where they were bundled out for just 36 runs in their second innings. Captain Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 112 in the first innings, was named Player Of The Match. India’s massive victory in 2nd test will obviously put Australia under pressure.
With India’s win at Melbourne, the four-match series is now level at 1-1. This was India’s 4th win at Melbourne. Ajinkya Rahane has now won all his three tests as captain.
Rahane was particularly happy with the performance of debutants Shubman Gill (opener) and medium fast bowler Mohd Siraj. He said Siraj bowled with a lost of discipline for a debutant. Rahane said the Indian team played with intent and character despite suffering a devastating defeat in 1st test. He said the team did not discuss the Adelaide loss at all during last 7 days. India were playing without Virat Kohli and injured fast bowler Mohd Shami. Rohit Sharma has, however, returned to the side and will play in the 3rd test.
Set a target of 70, India scored 70/2 in 15.5 overs to win by 8 wickets. Opener Shubman Gill, who had scored 45 in first innings, remained unbeaten on 35 in 36 balls with 7 fours while Rahane remained 27 not out in 40 balls with 3 fours. Gill and Rahane added 51 runs in their unbroken partnership for the 3rd wicket to register a historic win making the series exciting. Earlier, Australia had won the three-match ODI series 2-1 while India won the three-match T20I series 2-1.
Incidentally, India had lost their first two wickets with only 19 runs on board. Opener Mayank Agarwal, who was out for a duck in first innings, fell to fast bowler Mitchell Starc for 5 making it 16/1. Cheteshwar Pujara, who had scored 17 in first innings,fell to fast bowler Pat Cummins for 3 making it 19/2.
Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 133/6, Australia were all out for a modest 200 runs in their 2nd innings with all-rounder Cameron Green scoring 45 and fast bowler Pat Cummins scoring 22. Green and Cummins added 57 runs for the 7th wicket. Cummins fell to fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah for 22 making it 156/7. Green fell to Mohd Siraj for 45 and it was 177/8. Spinner Nathan Lyon also fell to Siraj for 3 and it was 185/9. Josh Hazlewood fell to spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for 10 and Australia were all out for 200, their highest score in the series so far. Australia had scored 195 in first innings. India had scored 326 in their 1st innings.
For India, Mohd Siraj took 3/37 while Jasprit Bumrah took 2/54 while fast bowler Umesh Yadav, who could bowl only 3.3 over in Australia’s second innings as he had to leave the field due to injury making India one bowler short, took 1/5. Spinner Ravichandra Ashwin took 2/71 while Ravindra Jadeja took 2/28.