After Nathan Lyon took eight wickets on the second day of the third Test at the door, Travis Head (49 not out) and Marnus Labuschagne (28 not out) powered Australia to a massive win by nine wickets at the Holkar Stadium to help Australia record their first victory on this four-match Test series tour on Saturday.
The visiting side was left with a tricky target of 76 runs to win the third Test after India were bowled out for just 163 in the second innings, having recorded a mere 109 in their first innings. Nathan Lyon was the star performer for Australia with the ball, returning with magical numbers of 23.3-1-64-8 and setting up the platform for a big win for his side after their tour in 2016-17.
There were no major worries for Australia on the third day as they won the contest halfway through the first session despite losing an early wicket in the form of Usman Khawaja. India’s final Ravichandran Ashwin began the day on a bright note, getting the left-handed Australian opening batsman caught behind by wicket-keeper KS Bharat for a second ball duck.
But the pair of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne buckled down and did not allow India to capitalise or make any inroads any further. Travis Head once again played an aggressive knock after his failure in the first innings.
The left-handed opening batsman hit six boundaries and a six to make 49 not out from just 53 balls whereas his partner, the right-handed Marnus Labuschagne, was unbeaten on 28 from 58 balls with the help of six boundaries when the winning runs were scored.
Earlier in the Test, Australia took upper hand on the first day at the Holkar Stadium in Indore when they bowled out India for just 109 with left-arm young spinner Matthew Kuhnemann returning with his maiden five wicket haul in Test cricket.
Having made his debut earlier in the series, Kuhnemnn recorded stunning numbers of 9-2-16-5 while Nathan Lyon took 3/35 from his 11.2 overs to help Australia take advantage of a turning track which was later on rated poor by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
In their reply, Australia also suffered a batting collapse on the second day but not before taking a vital lead of 88 runs in the first innings. For the visitors, Usman Khawaja scored a fluent 60 from 147 balls with four boundaries, Marnus Labuschagne contributed with 31, Steve Smith made 26, Peter Handscomb scored 19, and Cameron Green scored 21.
For India in their bowling intense, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja took 4/78 from his 32 overs while Ravichandran Ashwin took 3/44 from 20.3 overs and Umesh Yadav bowled a spell of 5-0-12-3 to help spark a collapse in the Australian ranks. Akshar Patel continued to have a tough time with the ball in the series as he has severely lacked wickets and in this Test match, he could not also contribute with the bat as he had done so in the first two games at Nagpur and New Delhi.
The victory in the third Test at Indore confirmed Australia’s position in the final of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) to be played in England in June this year.
Australia will be playing either India or Sri Lanka. For India to qualify for the final, they will have to win the fourth Test against Australia while the scenario is more difficult for Sri Lanka, who will have to beat New Zealand in an away series 2-0 if they have to reach the summit clash.