Australia vs India 2018: 1st Test Match - Day 4: Tea Report

It was a good session for Australia after they were looking down and out in the first session of day four. Australia was able to weep out India’s tail in a jiffy as the hosts took the remaining five wickets for only 25 runs. In fact, there were some reckless shots from India’s lower order as they let go of their foot off the pedal. There was a fine opportunity for India to bat out Australia of the game.

Ajinkya Rahane scored a fine knock of 70 runs as the Indian deputy got back into form. Rahane was superb in his shot-making as he made good use of the crease. The right-hander also advanced down the track to tackle Nathan Lyon with guile. However, Rahane played a rash reverse sweep to get dismissed.

Australia gets a whiff of hope.

Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant batted in the topmost gear as he was expected to do so. Pant smashed Lyon to three consecutive boundaries and one six to take 18 runs from Australia’s off-spinner over. The southpaw batsman attacked in his favourite region of mid-wicket and reaped fruits for getting to the pitch of the ball.

However, Pant was always playing with fire and his downfall looked evident. Subsequently, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin were also dismissed in the deep as they tried to go for the big shot.

Consequently, India was able to set a decent target of 323 runs. However, they could have taken a lead of more than 350 runs had they batted with more resistance.

Meanwhile, Aaron Finch had a reprieve on the second ball when Ishant Sharma overstepped which made the umpire to overturn the LBW decision that had gone into lanky pacer’s favour. However, it wasn’t to be the case.

Ravichandran Ashwin finally struck for India as he sent back Aaron Finch at the stroke of Tea.

Brief Scores: Australia 28-1, Austrailia need 295 runs, India need another nine wickets.