NEWS
Follow UsLike in 2021, this series is going down to the wire. India came out with just little scratches after the Gabba Test, giving themselves two shots at retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But the Melbourne Test has swayed, with Australia now having the utmost advantage heading into day five.
Marnus Labuschagne, who scored 72 and 70 across two innings in the Test, reckoned that inconsistent bounce, displayed on day four, could be a huge factor in the Indian team's run chase.
“As the game has progressed, the ball is keeping low, we are getting more balls that are hitting the stumps. The seam movement has been the same, but the bounce has been low. It is tricky to bat there; balls are skidding through, and few are shooting up,” Labuschagne revealed in the post-day press conference.
However, the right-hander was tight-lipped about whether Australia would declare overnight or put India back on the field for a few overs before forcing a result. He revealed that Australia had an eye on declaring it later on, day four, to force India to come out to bat for a few overs.
“Glad that you think I know if we are going to declare or not; what I would say is that I think we had the perfect time come for us, that is probably bowl a bit in the last hour of day’s play, putting India under pressure,” he said.
“But the way the wicket played, and how India put under pressure first 40-50 overs, that wasn’t an option for us; it became let’s get as many runs as possible. There was a time when it could have been 260-270, which could have been way lower; the lower order did well to bat their way out.”
While crediting India’s lower order, Labuschagne reckoned that another day of ‘exciting cricket’ could prevail between the two sides.
“I felt like that we were ahead of the game all the way. We probably going into day five 333 as just ahead. I was just sitting with the batting coach, they were scrapping for runs, there were overthrows, and it had everything, including a no-ball. People say Test cricket isn’t exciting, I’m a player and found that very exciting,” he added.
It wasn’t as easy a day for Australia’s batters, with Jasprit Bumrah bowling a splendid spell that saw Australia go from 80/3 to 91/6, throwing open a third possible result of an India win.
“Jasprit Bumrah has been good every game, he’s been just relentless. He’s tough to navigate with that action. It is tough to start your innings against Bumrah, trying to navigate through that and his spell is key. We have gotten better as the series progressed,” he said.
India chased down 328 in that historic win at the Gabba three years ago. Could there be a repeat of that? Labuschagne hopes not, stating that the pitch from 2021 was ‘flatter’ than the one at MCG right now.
“That Gabba wicket was flat, there were some cracks, but the main part of the wicket was flat. I remember that wicket, it was a good track to bat. We were also in a position where we had to win the series, we had to force the game. We had to risk it a bit more at Gabba than here.”
