Melbourne: The Melbourne Test match ended favourably for Australia against India and was conclusively won by 184 runs, taking them ahead in the series 2-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy competition. The match was finalised on December 30, 2024, when India lost all their wickets to be bowled out for only 155 runs in their second innings, while the target to chase was 340 runs.
Australia had the pessimistic target to correlate with after making 234 in their second innings, thus increasing their first of 474 to that whopping, plus 276 limit. On the other hand, India made a total of 369 runs in their first innings. The Australian bowlers, notably Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, not only bowled superbly but also were decisive in taking apart the Indian batting.
On the final day of the Test, Australia opened with the batting, having a lead of 333 runs. They scored just six runs and declared at 234. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the leading light in the Indian innings, as he scored 84 runs off 208 balls. Albeit little support came his way, only Rishabh Pant made a significant contribution with a score of 30.
The lack of support for Jaiswal in the Indian innings was clearly shown as none of the other batsmen reached double figures, finally causing the result to be in their favor. Rohit Sharma could just make 9 runs, while Virat Kohli was out pretty quickly with only 5 runs. KL Rahul was once again unable to score, and that adds more questions about his position in the batting order, as he has been for a long time.
This loss means that it’s the 49th time that India has been unable to make it successfully in a Test innings while attempting to overcome targets in the presence of 300 or more runs. The clear inability of the team in successfully chasing targets has been a very common issue in their recent exhibition.
Jasprit Bumrah was selected as the best bowler for India, as he took five wickets in the game. Even after his effort, the team could not use that performance of his to go on and either win or even draw the match.
With this victory, Australia has not only taken the necessary steps to register an important win, but they also became the front-runners in the series and are now looking forward to carrying on their winning streak in their next matches.
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