Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj chipped in with 2 wickets each while both Jasprit Bumrah and Nitish Kumar Reddy ended the innings with 2 wickets each.

The Men in Blue were given a massive scare when pace spearhead and stand-in captain Bumrah underwent precautionary scans for an unspecified injury after leaving the field in the post-lunch session.

Following an impressive bowling display, it was the time for India batters to deliver. However, the top-order certainly wasn’t able to do so as the first 4 batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were all dismissed cheaply. It looked like the visitors would be bundled out within the second day itself, however Rishabh Pant had other ideas.

The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter played a fantastic knock of 61 runs from just 33 deliveries to somehow keep India’s innings afloat despite the hosts being in command. The Men in Blue finished the day on 141/6 and currently lead by 145 runs. Ravindra Jadeja (8*) and Washington Sundar (6*) will be looking to India’s lead towards the 200-run mark on the third day.

Pant’s knock prevented the Indian innings from falling apart with the visitors’ top and lower-order struggling to negotiate against the Australian attack on a track that was aided seam and bounce. Scott Boland was once again the top bowler for the Baggy Greens, finishing the second day with figures of 4/42.

The match looks certain to end on the third day, however India will be counting on skipper Bumrah to return to full fitness if they hope to defend a low total.

The post Indian bowlers dominate before Rishabh Pant’s explosive knock sees Sydney Test head for exciting finish appeared first on Cricket Country.

According to Shastri, Rishabh Pant’s wicket in the third session lifted the Australian team and they went on to clinch 6 more wickets in the same session to not only win the match by 184 runs, but also take a 2-1 lead in the series.

“I think the turning point was the wicket of Rishabh Pant. They knew they couldn’t win the game by lunchtime once they lost three wickets. The only chance you have of winning is if there’s a platform set, exactly what Rohit said. And then, when Rishabh Pant got out after tea, that lifted the Australians. That was the opening they were looking for, and they made sure to capitalize on it,” Ravi Shastri said on Star Sports.

India’s final wicket fell with less than 14 overs remaining in the day. Nathan Lyon dismissed Mohammed Siraj to help Australia complete a famous victory over the Men in Blue in Melbourne.

With this win, Australia now stands on the verge of winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as they head into the fifth and final Test which will be held in Sydney and will commence from December 3. The Baggy Greens are now also in a strong position to make it to their second consecutive World Test Championship (WTC) final.

The post ‘Turning point was Rishabh Pant’s wicket’: Ravi Shastri’s BLUNT take on India’s defeat in Melbourne Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

As the stadium was filled with chants of ‘Kohli-Kohli’ when Siraj was having his run-up, the star Indian batter made a decision and shifted the focus to his fellow pacer.

When Siraj was having his run-up, Kohli approached the Indian fans and gestured them to shift the cheer from him to the pacer bowler. In response to his gesture, the crowd quickly changed the chant from ‘Kohli-Kohli’ to ‘DSP-DSP’. DSP is the nickname which is uniquely given to Siraj by the fans, that represents his post of the Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Virat Kohli asking the crowd to cheer for Siraj 🔥

– The man, King at MCG. pic.twitter.com/iF8fUembl1

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 29, 2024

Kohli kept encouraging the fans to cheer even louder as Siraj went to bowl to Mitchell Starc. Another point is that Siraj was honoured with the post of Deputy of Superintendent of Police by the Telangana government in October 2024, because of his important contributions in India’s title win in T20 World Cup 2024.

The post WATCH: Virat Kohl’s wholesome Gesture for Mohammed Siraj- Requests crowd to chant ‘DSP-DSP’ appeared first on Cricket Country.

Bumrah and Siraj sent back Australian openers Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja on small numbers. Siraj then did not let Steve Smith to make a big change in the innings, cutting his time short on the pitch. Bumrah then again came into clutch and made sure Travis Head would go back to the dugout disappointed.

Marnus Lasbuschagne kept one side as the other end saw batters changing frequently. He played an important knock of 70 runs and made sure that his team did not fall behind much. Pat Cummins then came in and had a strong 57-run partnership with him to keep the match going on. Labuschagne got dismissed after he scored 70 runs, however he made sure that the Australian team was in a good place.

Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland were the final players for the team and when seemed the most difficult thing to accept was the 55-run partnership between the two, as they changed the path of the match. As stumps got called on Day 4, Australia is leading by 333 runs.
If India aims to win the match, they will have to improve their batting lineup, which has not been promising so far in the series. The performance of the batting lineup suggests that chasing this target is going to be an extremely difficult task.

The post Australia’s tailenders sweat Indian bowlers as the team leads by record score of 333 at stumps at MCG Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

Indian star Mohammed Siraj did not miss the chance to give a reply to the MCG crowd when the chance came to be. When other Australian batters failed on the pitch, Marnus Labuschagne smashed an important fifty in their second innings, as he led the team to a massive lead before getting struck by Siraj himself.

Siraj caught Labuschagne LBW and finished his outing at 70 runs. After Siraj had an animated celebration, he turned towards the MCG crowd and had a roaring celebration. He had earlier taken the key wicket of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith as well.

𝙎𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙟 𝙩𝙤 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙪𝙨: 𝘽𝙮𝙚, 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙚! 🤪

Siraj catches Labuschagne off guard! Third wicket for DSP Sahab 🫡#AUSvINDOnStar 👉 4th Test, Day 4 | LIVE NOW! | #ToughestRivalry #BorderGavaskarTrophy pic.twitter.com/i3eMomntZl

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 29, 2024

Earlier in the match, Bumrah had also given an animated send-off to debutant Sam Konstas. After clean-bowling him early in the game, Bumrah had gestured to irritate the crowd. This was something Sam was also spotted during India’s batting. Bumrah hit two birds with same stone as he gave a well-deserved reply to Konstas and also shut up the boos of Melbourne crowd.

The post WATCH: Mohammed Siraj Roars to MCG Crowd as response to their boos after dismissing Marnus Labuschagne appeared first on Cricket Country.

Reddy’s unbeaten 105 took India to 358/9, still 116 runs short of Australia’s first innings score of 474 as rain brought an early end to the third day’s play.

With the flat MCG deck not offering much to the bowlers, saving the Test match shouldn’t be a big deal for the Men in Blue from this position.

Reddy’s combative spirit and the invaluable 127-run stand he shared with Washington Sundar (50 off 162 balls) proved to be the turning point for the hosts.

The 21-year-old Andhra batter could have been left stranded on 99 when Jasprit Bumrah got dismissed, leaving Reddy with last-man in Mohammed Siraj, who walked in to another round of boos and faced 3 deliveries from Australia skipper Pat Cummins.

A picture-perfect straight drive off Scott Boland was the moment of the series for India as Reddy balanced his helmet with the bat and took a knee, expressing his gratitude towards the Indian dug-out which gave him a standing ovation. Sitting in the stands near the boundary, Reddy’s father Muthyala broke down when his son achieved the milestone.

Reddy has been by far India’s most consistent batter in the series and the maiden Test century couldn’t have come at a more opportune time and that too at an iconic venue.

It will be interesting to see how far can the duo of Reddy and Siraj take India’s total to on the fourth day of the Melbourne Test.

The post Nitish Kumar Reddy’s incredible maiden century keeps India afloat on Day 3 of Melbourne Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

However, whenever Siraj has done this action, it has resulted in the dismissal of the batter after a short while. People now believe that whenever a fielder or player in general changes the bail of the stumps, it causes a sort of bad luck to the batter, as there has not been a time when bails got switched and the batter remained for long after that.

During the fourth Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc was also spotted doing the same thing, while Indian star Ravindra Jadeja was batting with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.

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Jatin Sapru and Irfan Pathan were on the commentary panel and shared their views on this incident

“Last time this trick was used, Mohammed Siraj did it to maybe Labuschagne, wicket went to Nitish Reddy,” Jatin said on Star Sports.

Irfan Pathan said how Australia did not need to do this bail changing trick and jokingly mentioned how Mitchell Starc did not have any wicket to his name, and did this switch in order to secure a wicket.

“The position where Australia is in right now, if you have to change the bails, then Mitchell Starc is just thinking about himself that he has not taken any wicket. He needs a wicket,” Irfan said shortly after Jatin.

This small trick by Starc somehow did succeed as soon after this incident, Ravindra Jadeja got dismissed with an LBW by Nathan Lyon, to which the ball-tracker also confirmed it to be a wicket.

The post WATCH- Mohammed Siraj’s ‘bail-switch’ method gets followed by Mitchell Starc: Successfully dismisses Ravindra Jadeja appeared first on Cricket Country.

Siraj has not been at his best in the series so far, picking up 13 wickets in 7 innings. His poor performances have only ended up giving extra burden on Jasprit Bumrah’s shoulders.

Gavaskar believes the right-arm quick needs to be told he is being dropped rather than being rested. 

“I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break. In the sense, I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can’t beat around the bush,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“You need to be brutally upfront and say ‘look, your performance has not been up to scratch, and therefore you are being dropped.’ When you start talking about ‘rest,’ players get wrong ideas. They feel they don’t need to up their game,” Gavaskar added.

Gavaskar believes that Siraj should either be replaced by Harshit Rana or Prasidh Krishna in the fifth Test which will be held in Sydney. While Rana did feature in the first 2 Tests, Krishna hasn’t featured in the series at all.

“But I think Siraj needs to be told ‘Look, you are not bowling as well as we expected you to on pitches that have been helpful’. That is something that needs to be told. If you want to make two changes. Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana to support Jasprit Bumrah. By all means, do that,” Gavaskar said.

The post ‘He needs a little break…’: Sunil Gavaskar wants THIS India star to be dropped from the team appeared first on Cricket Country.

Siraj had switched the bails in the third Test as well, however, this time the Indian pacer himself called the Australian batter and told him that he had switched the bails. As it happened during the previous Test, India got a wicket this time also, and almost immediately.

Siraj's trick 🤝 Bumrah's magic

Will it bring more good luck to #TeamIndia? 🤔#AUSvINDOnStar 👉 4th Test, Day 1 | LIVE NOW! | #ToughestRivalry #BorderGavaskarTrophy pic.twitter.com/s1ROwb7Q6O

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 26, 2024

Just 11 balls after, Usman Khawaja got dismissed. As he tried to pull a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, Khawaja sent a shot which went straight to KL Rahul at short mid-wicket.

However, that did not stop Labuschagne from giving his best performance. As he has been out of sorts and defensive against Bumrah and others until now, Labuschagne made use of the opportunity this time.

The post WATCH: Mohammed Siraj continues switching Bails with Marnus Labuschagne- Works yet again appeared first on Cricket Country.