Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Rain and Australia's batting combine for draw: T3 D5


Australia 530 & 9/318d (98ov, Marsh 99/215b/2x6 11x4, Rogers 69, Warner 40, Harris 21, I Sharma 2/49, Ashwin 2/75,Yadav 2/89, M Shami 2/92) drew with India 465 & 6/174 (66ov, Kohli 54/99b/7x4, Rahane 48/117b/6x4, Dhoni 24*, Pujara 21, Harris 2/30, Johnson 2/38, Watson 2/40); T3/4 D5/5 at MCG. Australia lead series 2-0. Player of the match Ryan Harris.

A draw for not an unfair result for the match, not because it gave Australia the series but because India continued the steady Iimprovement they've shown throughout the series. Without Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane's contributions in each innings they probably would have lost but at least the bowlers improved in Australia's long second innings, which was underpinned by Shaun Marsh until he was run out by - surprise, surprise - Kohli going for his 100th run.

The big news of the day came after play when MS Dhoni announced his retirement drom Test cricket effective immediately. So Kohli will get another chance in the final Test to lead India. This will give some interest to what is now a dead rubber.

Scorecard http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/engine/match/754741.html

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