AUS vs IND 2024/25, Australia vs India 4th Test, Day 4, Melbourne Match Report, December 26-30, 2024

Australia 474 and 228 for 9 (Labuschagne 70, Lyon 41*, Bumrah 4-56, Siraj 3-66). India 369 (Reddy 114, Jaiswal 82, Boland 3-57, Cummins 3-89) for 333 runs

After staying in the game for most of the day, India were frustrated by Lyon and Boland, who scored a valuable 55 runs and could not be separated before stumps on the fourth day. Lyon should have been Bumrah’s fifth wicket in the last over of the day when he advanced to third slip where KL Rahul somehow kept the ball between his legs, but an exhausted Bumrah had gone too far. In the end, Lyon took 14 points from the over and ended the day with their joint second-highest Test score.

However, at 99 for 6, a potentially crucial moment came when Labuschagne, on 46, was bowled out by Yashasvi Jaiswal as he tried to push the hapless deep to third. Jaiswal, who had fired at Usman Khawaja at leg gully early on, had a day to forget on the field as he also gave Cummins a life in the last over before tea when he missed a slim chance at a silly point.

Labuschagne and Cummins extended their partnership to 57, each run feeling like gold dust, before Labuschagne was lbw for Siraj, who had his best day of the series since Perth.

Any thought that Australia would extend their lead freely soon disappeared in the morning as India bowled superbly with the new ball on a pitch that offered more seam movement than previous days. This time Bumrah got the better of Sam Konstas as he fired one through the goal and didn’t hold back, with a celebration that seemed to mimic Konstas’ interactions with the crowd.

Bumrah moved the ball so much that it was impossible to hit at times, while both Akash and Siraj were challenging, although the former might have wanted to bowl the ball a little fuller. The advantage of playing a little more was shown when Siraj fended off a pass by Khawaja. At some point during the morning session, the broadcast said that Australia’s batters had been hit 21 times in 18 overs.

Shortly after lunch, it appeared as if Labuschagne and Smith, who had started the innings within 51 runs of 10,000, were trying to pick up the pace, but any thought of doing so was soon dismissed.

Siraj opened the door as Smith chased a long throw, then Rohit Sharma sensed a moment and brought Bumrah straight back, which was stunning. On his second toss he snapped his head to the forward leg, and four tosses later he continued Marsh’s lean streak with a toss that climbed up and touched the glove. Marsh was left with 73 runs in seven innings (47 of them in one knock) and he is likely to be the focus of much debate ahead of the Sydney Test, regardless of the result here.

When Bumrah scored a sharp goal against Alex Carey, the game threatened to be turned on its head barely 24 hours after India were likely to concede a lead of over 200. Then Labuschagne’s reprieve came and Australia breathed a sigh of relief again.

There were never any free points, but Labuschagne managed one of the most important innings of his career, although at times he could only smile when another ball whistled past his crease. Overs like one from Deep that went to nine – with a boundary each to Labuschagne and Cummins – were like small shifts in momentum.

When the pair survived Bumrah’s first outing after tea, it appeared to be a good result for Australia, but Siraj produced an excellent performance, securing an LBW from Labuschagne which was upheld on the umpire’s advice.

Mitchell Starc was caught in a miscommunication with Cummins and a brilliant effort from Rishabh Pant, who took off a glove to block Reddy’s throw from deep and scored a direct hit at the non-striker’s end. Cummins then edged out Jadeja and slipped after scoring his highest run tally in a Test.

The lower order contributions have made Australia favorites, although nothing seems certain.