The final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is unlikely to go all five days, unlike the last match in the 2020/21 series. While this series might not have the final day drama of the Gabba, the Sydney Test has once again been set up for a thrilling finish after a fast-moving Day 2 of Saturday, January 4.
15 wickets fell on Day 2 of the Test match as the pitch kept getting better for the fast bowlers despite the sun beating down at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. It was Rishabh Pant – India’s hero at the Gabba in 2020/21, who once again played a crucial part in keeping India alive in the Test match. Pant’s innings helped India take a lead of 145 runs. At the close of the day, India were 141/6 with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar in the crease.
Pant’s rapid fifty – the fastest by any Indian on Australian soil helped India break the shackles late on Day 2, when Scott Boland was breathing fire on the SCG pitch. Pant’s 29-ball fifty, in his typical counterattacking style, helped India put pressure back on the fast bowlers, who were enjoying the ever-improving SCG surface.
Coming into bat after 78/4, after Virat Kohli was once again edged to the slips, Pant began his innings with a slap through the line against Boland – hitting the pacer for a six. The wicketkeeper-batter – criticised for his mode of dismissals in this innings threw caution to the win and backed his style of cricket.
Pant’s attack saw Australia lose their bearings despite having a sustained period of pressure over the India batters. Pant 6 fours and 4 sixes in his 33-ball innings, breaking the game open, at a time when it looked like India would fold below 150 runs.
Batting has been very hard at the SCG due to the amount of seam, swing and bounce that the pacers have extracted from the pitch. Pant made a mockery of everything, and hit 61 runs off 33 balls, making sure that Australian pacers do not dictate terms to the Indian side.
Fastest Test Fifties by Indians
28 Rishabh Pant vs SL Bengaluru 2022
29 Rishabh Pant vs Aus Sydney 2025 *
30 Kapil Dev vs Pak Karachi 1982
31 Shardul Thakur vs Eng The Oval 2021
31 Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Ban Kanpur 2024
On Day 2 at the SCG, India’s innings could easily be divided into two parts. One with Pant at the crease and one without. Apart from the swashbuckling start provided by Yashasvi Jaiswal, India struggled to keep the scoreboard moving. Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul fell cheaply once again, handing Australia control in the Test match.
After Pant did his thing and got out to Pat Cummins, the Indian innings once again went back into a rut with Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy failing to keep the scoreboard ticking.
By then, it was clear that there was no point surviving at the SCG, and the only way to win this match was to put on a decent score by hook or crook and then unleash the fast bowlers on the green deck at the venue.
India’s lack of rotation built up pressure on the batters and eventually resulted in the wicket of Nitish Reddy in the 28th over of the match. And it was once again Scott Boland, whose persistent lines and lengths helped him reap the reward on Saturday.
Boland closed the day with 4/42, once again impressing the crowd in the absence of Josh Hazlewood.
Jasprit Bumrah’s Injury
It cannot be stressed enough how important Pant’s counter-attacking innings was. The invaluable 61 runs helped the Indian team get a decent cushion at the close of play in case captain Jasprit Bumrah is not able to bowl on Sunday. Bumrah got off the field after bowling just 8 overs in the day. Not only did Bumrah leave the field, he also went off the stadium to get his back checked at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.
Losing Bumrah would be a huge miss for India given the pacer has marshalled the entire attack on his shoulder in this series. 2 wickets in India’s first outing with the ball in Sydney helped Bumrah reach a tally of 32 wickets in this series – a record by any Indian bowler against Australia.
India would find a little solace in the fact that Mohammed Siraj finally looked like the Mohammed Siraj of 2020/21, bowling his heart out with incredible fierceness in every step.
More to follow…
