Australia are 2-1 up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy – and it could scarcely have come in more dramatic fashion. After five days of captivating cricket in front of record-breaking crowds at the MCG, India’s dire collapse after tea on Day 5, losing seven wickets after Rishabh Pant’s brain explosion opened the door for the hosts, has seen them lose grip on the trophy they have held for nearly eight years. There were heroes galore on both sides.
For Australia, player of the match Pat Cummins for his crucial wickets and pair of priceless 40s with the bat, Steve Smith for another Boxing Day century, Scott Boland’s impeccable line and Sam Konstas’ dazzling debut; in the Indian camp, nine wickets for Jasprit Bumrah and a defiant maiden Test century from Nitish Kumar Reddy, plus a pair of 80s from Yashasvi Jaiswal that simply oozed class and grit alike. But there were villains, too – Pant’s horror shot to gift his wicket to Travis Head that sparked India’s downfall matched in the hall of shame by captain Rohit Sharma, the captain’s nightmare series plumbing new depths with two more poor scores and some ugly body language in the field. Here are The Roar’s player ratings for the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
More Cricket Australia Sam Konstas – 7 No one in the MCG on Boxing Day – or watching from home – will ever forget Konstas’ whirlwind entrance into Test cricket, the most spectacular start to an international career since David Warner on the sa.