Pant power gives India the edge after 15-wicket day

A fighting fifty on debut by allrounder Beau Webster was overshadowed by Rishabh Pant's blazing counter-punch as India eyes an extraordinary fifth Test fightback that might need to be concluded without their most destructive bowler, Jasprit Bumrah.

On an SCG pitch that has shown itself to resemble batting kryptonite, with indentations caused by the ball on day one reportedly hardening to produce a pitted surface from which the ball deviates alarmingly, India's current overall lead of 145 is worth at least twice its face value.

India resume on day three 6-141 with allrounders Ravindra Jadeja (who was dropped by Steve Smith at slip off Webster in the day's penultimate over) and Washington Sundar unbeaten on eight and six respectively.

The manner in which Pant attacked Australia's bowlers in his game-high score of 61 off just 33 balls this evening highlighted not only the optimum method on such a treacherous surface, but betrayed India's belief that proper batting is near impossible.

Australia will be aware there's been three successful fourth-innings run chases of 150-plus at the SCG in the past 25 years, but none of those have been achieved on a surface similar to this model which is the spiciest seen at the venue in that time.

If there is solace to be sought by Australia's under-siege batters, it is the potential absence from their chief tormentor Bumrah whose fitness remains under a cloud after he left the field shortly after lunch today and was taken to hospital for scans.

It was later confirmed that Bumrah suffered a back spasm, but his capacity to bowl if needed remains unknown.

But given the ongoing frailties in Australia's batting that were exposed again today despite Bumrah's unavailability for the latter half of the innings, they will face a significant task to prevent India levelling the series 2-2 and thereby retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Bumrah left the field shortly before lunch on day two at the SCG and returned to bowl one over after the break before returning to the dressing room, then leaving the ground with team medical staff and seemingly heading to a nearby hospital

On a pitch that has become so difficult for batting against seamers that India opted for a T20 approach to their second innings, the series may yet hinge on Bumrah's ability to bowl in the final phase.

With 32 wickets at 13.06 across nine bowling innings, Bumrah has been the most consistently influential player of this compelling series that continues to play out at breakneck speed.

But from the way India approached their batting in today's final session, after Australia were bowled out on the stroke of tea four runs in arrears, they apparently believe a lead of anything above 150 will be sufficient.

The tone was set in Mitchell Starc's opening over from which opener Yashasvi Jaiswal thrashed four boundaries – three of them carved over the slips and another slapped contemptuously through extra cover.

The score had raced to 42 off just 45 balls when the introduction of first-innings star Scott Boland brought a breakthrough with KL Rahul's stumps scattered, a fate also suffered by Jaiswal in Boland's next over.

The Australia seamer then became Virat Kohli's greatest Test nemesis, capturing the ex-India skipper (who was leading in Bumrah's absence) for the fifth time in the same manner Australia had dismissed him on seven previous occasions.

Kohli's anger at once more edging behind the wicket was instantly apparent as he threw back his head and slapped his thigh, before trudging off for what is all-but certain to be his final Test innings in Australia to the now traditional chorus of boos.

Despite an unbeaten century in the second innings of India's thumping win in the series opener at Perth, the former world number one managed just 90 runs in his other eight visits to the crease with his weakness outside off stump ruthlessly exploited.

But Australia could find no such fallibility in Pant even though he literally threw himself into an array of outrageous shots that might have already put the Test beyond Australia's reach in light of their ongoing batting woes.

The belligerent left-hander, whose cricket career hung in the balance after he was involved in a serious car accident in India in 2023, played his most memorable innings since leading his team to victory in a similarly must-win scenario at Brisbane four years ago.

Arriving at the crease in Kohli's wake, Pant clubbed the first ball he faced from Boland beyond long-on for six and maintained that approach until he was caught behind for 61 just 32 deliveries later.

A similarly thumping blow over the square leg fence off Webster carried India's total past 100 in the 20th over, and his third strike into the crowd yielded a remarkable half-century from 29 balls faced.

By the time the whirlwind blew itself out, India was 128 runs ahead although Pat Cummins' celebration on claiming the wicket betrayed Australia's belief they remained a chance to chase down a target despite the obvious batting challenges.

Australia's fightback came after a Bumrah-less India attack deprived of their strike bowler and stand-in captain (after regular captain Rohit Sharma opting to sit out the series decider) rallied to seize a four-run first innings lead and a remarkable last-gasp chance to retain the Trophy.

India's suddenly ascendant position is largely due to the contributions of back-up seamers Mohammed Siraj (3-51), Prasidh Krishna (3-42 in his first appearance of the series) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (2-32) as Australia was knocked over for 181 in just 51 overs.

After Bumrah again made two vital early incisions – Usman Khawaja (for two in his second over last night) and Marnus Labuschagne (for two in his second over this morning) – his fellow seamers stepped up to fill the sizeable breach.

The livelier-than-expected SCG pitch continued to offer extravagant bounce and disconcerting seam movement, to the extent that Webster became the only player from either team to pass 50 in their respective first innings.

Webster went to the wicket in his maiden Test knock with Australia in now familiar strife at 4-39 after Siraj had removed teenage opener Sam Konstas (23) and Travis Head (4) in the space of a solitary over.

Despite his early career first-class experience as a top-order batter with Tasmania, the 31-year-old would never have previously encountered a challenge similar to India's fired-up fast bowlers and a full house of 47,257 fans, many of whom were cheering on the visitors.

But the 198cm right-hander showed no indication of being daunted by the occasion as he forged an invaluable 50-run fifth-wicket stand with Steve Smith that extended to an innings-high 57 before Smith fell moments before lunch.

Not only did that dismissal – an edge to second slip that brought Prasidh's first wicket of the series – come against the run of play, it came with Smith just five runs shy of becoming the fourth Australia batter to reach 10,000 runs in Tests.

It also came after Smith had displayed annoyance with spectators moving behind the bowler's arm among the SCG members' section though whether the distraction broke his concentration remains unclear.

That wicket, which brought animated celebrations from India's players and their fans, meant Australia had surrendered 4-30 from 53 balls either side of stumps.

It was also the fifth time this series their first five wickets had failed to reach a combined total of 100.

The fact Smith had survived 53 pervious deliveries and landed the only six of Australia's innings – a swivel pull over square leg off Prasidh – yet was still undone by noticeable seam movement underscored the difficulties all batter's faced on the summer's toughest track.

With Australia needing only a draw in the final match to retain the Trophy India have held since 2017, the sporting surface rolled out in Sydney quells any suggestions Australia curators prepare pitches to aid the home team.

But batters on both sides might have hoped for something with a little less spice given the way in which ball has dominated bat throughout.

Given his exploits in his memorable maiden innings on Boxing Day, it was tough to tell if Konstas's frenzied start to the day reflected a view that batting was too fraught to simply hang around, or if it is his accepted Test-match tempo.

The 19-year-old, who had clashed with Bumrah and incited the anger of most of the India team during the final over yesterday, again showed no inclination to take a backward step when the heated battle resumed.

As he scratched his guard into the SCG pitch prior to the day's first ball, India spinner Ravindra Jadeja stood immediately behind him alongside the stumps although no words were seemingly exchanged.

That silence was short-lived as Konstas's audacious assault on the India bowlers brought an exponential increase in the level of chirp coming from the slips cordon.

After Labuschagne's dismissal was confirmed upon India's review, which also carried Bumrah to 32 wickets for the series and past Bishan Bedi's benchmark for most successful series by an India bowler in Australia, Konstas went on the charge.

Having jumped down the pitch to slice Siraj over gully for a single, he repeated the effort in Bumrah's next over and slapped the world's top-ranked Test bowler dismissively to the long-off rope.

In Bumrah's next over he became even more adventurous, again pulling out the reverse scoop he had unveiled in his Melbourne debut to collect another boundary over the slips cordon before a couple more hefty heaves that failed to make contact.

When he fell to a more conventional if equally risky stroke – trying to drive on the up against the moving ball only to squirt a catch to gully – Bumrah could not resist the final word though which brought a short chat with the umpires as Konstas departed.

But after Head came and went in the space of a solitary boundary, Smith nicked off like so many batters before and after in this game, and Alex Carey again had his stumps rattled by a rival seamer operating around the wicket, Webster became Australia's last batting hope in his inaugural Test outing.

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: Australia won by 184 runs

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal