Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar's dogged fightback sees India avoid follow-on, frustrate Australia on Day 3
Only 70 overs of play was possible on the third day of the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia due to overcast weather and rain in Melbourne in the latter half as India managed to bat the day out with still one wicket left in their first hit. The deficit has been reduced to 116.
Team India eked out another fighting day in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar kept the Australian bowlers at bay for a large part of the third day of the Boxing Day Test before it ended with the 21-year-old completing his maiden Test century on Saturday, December 28. India managed to bat the day out with just 70 overs of play being possible but the deficit is still 116 and they have just one wicket remaining going into the fourth day.
However, given how the last 20 minutes panned out on the second day, India would take a day of 194/4 which included a starring 127-run stand between Reddy and Washington Sundar where they avoided the follow-on as well. The day began with Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant putting the fire out for almost 10 overs in the morning session before Scott Boland struck.
Pant's poor Australia tour continued as the wicketkeeper batter has failed to score a single fifty in the series thus far. Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed by Nathan Lyon soon after as it seemed like the innings might get done for India rather quickly but Reddy and Sundar had other ideas.
The duo made sure that India didn't lose any more wickets for the next little while. Both Reddy and Sundar played the ball rather than the bowlers and since the surface wasn't doing much they could take their time before cashing in. Hence, both Reddy and Sundar mixed caution with aggression to peg back Australia and take India's score beyond 300.
The rain interrupted the play when India were still 148 runs behind and Reddy was 15 runs away from his maiden Test century. The 20 minutes before the rain break saw both Reddy and Sundar play the crash-bang cricket but while using their brain to get a few quick runs. The rain broke their momentum and after the resumption, it took a few overs for both of them to understand the pace of the pitch and gauge if the showers have changed the conditions or not.
The ball did swing a bit but both Sundar and Reddy were able to get to their milestones. Sundar completed a magnificent fifty but was caught at slips off Lyon immediately after. Reddy get to his maiden ton and got the house down with Pushpa and Bahubali celebrations on the way. The day was called off prematurely due to bad light, followed by rain as it got darker and darker in the final session.
Australia are still 116 runs ahead but they would have liked to get their second batting innings underway. A lot of time is still left but India would believe that they have a chance of doing unthinkable, apart from the obvious draw.