Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah help India evade follow-on against Australia in Brisbane
Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah help India evade follow-on against Australia in Brisbane
Brisbane/IBNS: An unbeaten 39-run 10th wicket partnership by Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah helped India to evade the follow-on being enforced by Australia in the rain-marred third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane on Tuesday.
From 213/9, the two tail-enders took India past 246, which the visitors needed to score to avoid follow-on.
Veteran Virat Kohli erupted in joy while head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma celebrated as India evaded the follow-on as Australia coming out to bat for the second innings on the fifth day will push the match towards no result in greater probability.
As the day's play was called off after rain played spoilsport, India's scorecard read 252-9, trailing Australia in the first innings by 193 runs.
Akash Deep, the 11th in the batting order, is unbeaten at 27 from 31 balls alongside the vice-captain who has scored 10 from 27 balls so far.
India's fight against Australia was heavily contributed by KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja earlier in the day.
While Rahul was dismissed for 84 by Nathan Lyon, Jadeja, who is the number one Test allrounder in world cricket, slammed 77 from 123 balls.
Young Nitish Kumar Reddy might have added only 16 to the scoreboard but survived 61 balls to give a solid support to his senior partner Jadeja.
Aussie skipper Pat Cummins has so far picked four crucial wickets including the one of Jadeja to bolster the hosts' dominance at The Gabba.
With two matches left to be played, the Test series is evenly placed 1-1.
