NEW DELHI: Marnus Labuschagne‘s second-innings 70 prevented an Australian collapse on day four of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
This followed Labuschagne first-innings score of 72.
Jasprit Bumrah‘s impressive spell earlier in the day had left the Australian team struggling.
After the close of play on the fourth day, Labuschagne praised Bumrah’s bowling, describing it as ‘relentless’.
Australia experienced a dramatic middle-order collapse after lunch, losing four wickets for 11 runs in just 22 deliveries. Their score plummeted from 80-2 to 91-6.
Bumrah was instrumental in the middle-order collapse, dismissing Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, and Alex Carey in quick succession.
Australia’s tail-enders then offered resistance, helping the team reach 228 for 9 at stumps. Australia hold a 333-run lead with one day of play remaining.
Labuschagne elaborated on Bumrah’s effectiveness: “Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling every game has been pretty good. He’s relentless, he bowls at a relentless length and attacks the stumps with that perpendicular angle of his action. He is tough to navigate; obviously, as a batter, when you start your innings, it is difficult to get going. Finding a way to navigate through his spell is important. We have clearly improved in that as the Test series has progressed. He has been very good this year.”
A 57-run partnership between Labuschagne and Pat Cummins (41) helped Australia recover.
Earlier in the day, India resumed their innings at 358 for 9 and were eventually bowled out for 369, in response to Australia’s first-innings total of 474. Nitish Kumar Reddy achieved his maiden Test century, scoring 114 in his fourth Test match.
The Australian bowlers shared the wickets among them. Pat Cummins took 3-89, Scott Boland claimed 3-57, and Nathan Lyon finished with 3-96. Each bowler contributed significantly to Australia’s efforts.
