Australia vs India 2018-19, First Test: India Edge Closer To Win In Adelaide

India are four wickets away from victory in the ongoing first Test against Australia after dismissing overnight batsmen Travis Head and Shaun Marsh in the morning session of day five.

The writing was pretty much on the wall when Shaun Marsh and Travis Head came out to bat on day five. Chasing a record 322, Australia had ended day four on a precarious 104 for 4. Spinner R Ashwin (2-44) accounted for Aaron Finch (11) and Usman Khawaja (8) while seamer Shami (2-15) removed debutant Marcus Harris (26) and Peter Handscomb (14) to leave India well on top.

Never in their history, Australia had chased more than 302 at the Adelaide Oval. To make the matters worse, they have chased down 302 way back in 1902. With history as well as the current scenario totally against them, Australia needed a solid start on day five to revive their hopes of saving the game on registering an improbable win. But the slim hopes took a huge blow when Ishant Sharma had Travis Head caught to leave Australia reeling at 115 for 5.  Head was taken aback by a short delivery from Ishant and ended up fending it away where it looped to Ajinkya Rahane for a simple catch in the gully.

An absolute brute from Ishant Sharma had India up and about early on day five.#AUSvIND | @Toyota_Aus pic.twitter.com/QPR1SOz69a

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 10, 2018

Marsh then brought up his fifty to give the home fans something to cheer about. He and Tim Paine calmed down the nerves for a while but their resistance did not last long. Marsh, who scored his first fifty in the fourth innings of a Test, fell for 60 when he feathered an edge off Japsrit Bumrah behind to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. It ended the promising 41-run stand between him and the Australia skipper.

Paine and Pat Cummins showed some much-needed fightback as Australia headed to lunch without suffering any more setback. At lunch, the hosts were 186 for 6, still needing 137 runs to pull off a miraculous win.