India vs Australia LIVE Score: On the third day of the Boxing Day Test, the Indian team was seen making a comeback on the strength of Nitish Reddy’s century. However, by the time of stumps, India had lost 9 wickets and Team India was still 116 runs behind Australia. In such a situation, on the fourth day, India will try to put pressure on Australia from the very first ball. Nitish will try to keep as many strikes as possible and prevent Australia from taking a big lead. If Nitish is successful in keeping Australia’s lead less than 50 runs, then India will have a golden opportunity to register victory. (Live Scorecard)
Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made his initial steps in Test cricket, played the role of a ‘troubleshooter’ for India and shattered Australia’s hopes of victory by scoring an unbeaten century on the third day of the fourth Test. With the help of Reddy’s unbeaten 105 runs, India had scored 358 runs for nine wickets till the third day’s play was ended early due to rain. India is still 116 runs behind Australia’s first innings score of 474 runs.
Seeing that the bowlers do not get any help on the flat pitch of MCG, it should not be very difficult for India to save the Test. Full credit goes to Reddy for discovering India in this series. Setting an example of fighting spirit, he made an important partnership of 127 runs with Washington Sundar (50 runs in 162 balls) which was a turning point for India. Great batsman Sunil Gavaskar described Reddy’s innings as one of the best Test innings. When Rishabh Pant lost his wicket by playing an irresponsible shot, India’s score was 191 runs for six wickets.
The score of the young Andhra batsman was 99 runs when Jasprit Bumrah was out. At this time Reddy and the last batsman Mohammad Siraj were at the crease. When Siraj arrived, the audience again booed him but he played three balls of host captain Pat Cummins with caution.
After every ball, the expressions on the faces of Reddy and his father sitting in the gallery were changing but Siraj played three balls carefully and gave Reddy the moment which he had dreamed of thousands of times. Reddy completed his century by hitting a straight four off Scott Boland and expressed his gratitude to the Indian dugout by sitting on his knees and placing his helmet on the bat. Indian players stood up and greeted him. Reddy hit ten fours and one six in his innings.
The third day at the MCG was excellent for batting as the grass was gone and the Kookaburras were not providing any help to the bowlers. If Pant had played patiently, he could have played a big innings. Ravindra Jadeja (17 runs in 51 balls) and Pant started the day well. Pant also hit some fours but lost his wicket by playing an unnecessary reverse lap pull shot at long leg.
Here are the LIVE Score Updates of India vs Australia 4th Test Match Day 4, Straight from Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
