4th Test: Australia trail by 316 as India hold upper hand on Day 4

Sydney | India dominated the proceedings on the fourth day of the fourth and final Test match against Australia, enforcing the follow-on even as rain and bad light forced umpires to call off play early.

Australia were at 6/0 in the second innings and trail by 316 runs while following-on. This is the first time since 2005 that Australia is following-on, thanks to Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant five wicket haul.

Only 25.3 overs were bowled on Sunday and India managed to wrap up the Australian first innings after some defiance from tailenders Mitchell Starc (29), Jose Hazlewood (21) and Pat Cummins (25).

Yadav decimated the hosts by picking up his second fifer in Tests and Virat Kohli enforced the follow-on, making Australia bat again.

Usman Khawaja (4) and Marcus Harris (2) then survived some brilliant bowling from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami before bad light stopped the play and forced the umpires to call for early tea.

Since then, there wasn’t much improvement with respect to the light and play was suspended.

The day started with rain washing off the entire first session. In the second session, Australia resumed the day at 236/6. The Australian lower-order failed. Pat Cummins (25), Jose Hazlewood (21) and Mitchell Starc (29), however, tried to narrow the run gap but could not continue for long.

For India, apart from Yadav, Shami and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each.

Earlier, Australia were at 6/0 at tea, trailing by 316 while following-on.

Brief scores: India first innings: 622/7 (Declared) against Australia first innings: 300/10 (Marcus Harris 79; Kuldeep Yadav 5/99) at stumps on Day four.

Published on : Jan 6, 2019 at 12:41 IST

IANS