MELBOURNE: A rejuvenated India shorn of Virat Kohli turned the tables on Australia to claim the second Test within four days in Melbourne on Tuesday, a rousing eight-wicket victory that breathed life into the series.

Needing only 70 runs for victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after bowling Australia out for 200 by lunch, opener Shubman Gill (35 not out) and stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane (27 not out) guided India home in a blaze of shot-making to square the series 1-1 ahead of the third test.

Having bowled India out for 36 in the crushing eight-wicket win in Adelaide, Australia’s pacemen steamed in with their usual vigour but were repelled by a belligerent Gill, who enjoyed a fine Test debut.

The match belonged to Rahane, however, who took over the captaincy after the wreckage in Adelaide, with regular skipper Kohli returning to India for the birth of his first child.

Named man-of-the-match, Rahane scored a brilliant 112 in India’s first innings 326 and superbly marshalled a re-jigged side featuring four changes from the demoralised Adelaide 11.

Fittingly, he struck the winning run off spinner Nathan Lyon before tea, sending Indian fans into raptures in the sunbathed crowd of 13,021. India finished 70 for two.

Two years after smashing a depleted Australia by 137 runs in the Boxing Day Test, India’s bowlers again had the measure of their opponents on the MCG’s drop-in wicket.

The tourists rattled through Australia for 195 in the first innings and restricted them to 200 in the second despite the loss of paceman Umesh Yadav, who managed only a handful of overs before hobbling off with a calf strain early on day three.

Seamer Mohammed Siraj filled the breach superbly, taking 3-37 in the second innings and five wickets overall in a stellar Test debut.

Recalled all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also chipped in with three wickets in the Test, with 2-28 in the second innings, after contributing 57 with the bat.

Completing the selectors’ triumph, recalled wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant scored a valuable 29 in partnership with his captain to help lift India out of peril on day two.

Australia’s selectors will be hoping regular opener David Warner is fit to play after Joe Burns’s (0 and 4) twin failures with the bat.

Tailenders Starc (14 not out), Pat Cummins (22) and Hazlewood (10) showed stiffer resistance than a number of their batting team mates to push Australia to 200 for the first time in the series.

Reduced to 99-6 on day three, however, Australia’s faint hopes of setting India a proper chase were snuffed out when young all-rounder Cameron Green heaved at a Siraj short ball and was caught by a leaping Jadeja for 45.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA (1st Innings) 195 (M. Labuschagne 48; J.J. Bumrah 4-56, R. Ashwin 3-35).

INDIA (1st Innings) 326 (A.M. Rahane 112, R.A. Jadeja 57, Shubman Gill 45; N.M. Lyon 3-72, M.A. Starc 3-78).

AUSTRALIA (2nd Innings, overnight 133-6):

J.A. Burns c Pant b Yadav 4

M.S. Wade b Jadeja 40

M. Labuschagne c Rahane b Ashwin 28

S.P.D. Smith b Bumrah 8

T.M. Head c Agarwal b Siraj 17

C. Green c Jadeja b Siraj 45

T.D. Paine c Pant b Jadeja 1

P.J. Cummins c Agarwal b Bumrah 22

M.A. Starc not out 14

N.M. Lyon c Pant b Siraj 3

J.R. Hazlewood b Ashwin 10

EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-3) 8

TOTAL (all out, 103.1 overs) 200

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-42, 3-71, 4-98, 5-98, 6-99, 7-156, 8-177, 9-185.

BOWLING: Bumrah 27-6-54-2 (2nb); Yadav

3.3-0-5-1; Mohammed Siraj 21.3-4-37-3; Ashwin 37.1-6-71-2; Jadeja 14-5-28-2 (1nb).

INDIA (2nd Innings):

M.A. Agarwal c Paine b Starc 5

Shubman Gill not out 35

C.A. Pujara c Green b Cummins 3

A.M. Rahane not out 27

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for two wkts, 15.5 overs) 70

FALL OF WKTS: 1-16, 2-19.

BOWLING: Starc 4-0-20-1; Cummins 5-0-22-1; Hazlewood 3-1-14-0; Lyon 2.5-0-5-0; Labuschagne 1-0-9-0.

RESULT: India won by eight wickets to level four-match series 1-1.

UMPIRES: P.R. Reiffel (Australia) and B.N.J. Oxenford (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: P. Wilson (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: D.C. Boon (Australia).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ajinkya Rahane.

FIRST TEST: Adelaide, Australia won by eight wickets.

THIRD TEST: Sydney, Jan 7-11 (4:30am PST).

FOURTH TEST: Brisbane, Jan 15-19 (4:30am PST).

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020