Hi Friends,
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I am sure there are some Cricket sports fans out there on Hive Blockchain and here I would like to share this blog with those guys and also with others who are interested in sports.
As I write this, the Third test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy is being held between India and Australia with Australia being the hosts of this year's series.
The series is currently tied at 1-1 and the Third test is poised for a draw with most of the overs for the first 4 days have been lost due to rain and we are still witnessing the first innings of India going on with India at 252 for the loss of 9 wickets with last wicket pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep battled hard and scored 39 runs among themselves to avoid the follow-on for India.
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India has been struggling with top order batsmen not being consistent in this series although Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli scored Hundreds to win Second test in Adelaide.
Barring those 2 good knocks, other batters are struggling against the fast bowling of Australia especially against the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Doug Boland and Indian top order batters continued to struggle in Third test too.
Well, I should ay all top order batsmen except KL Rahul as KL has been producing some good runs in this series as an opener and he is the best among all the top 5 Indian batters in this series for India and he proved that again in this Third test match as well as he scored 80+ runs when others were just coming to the crease and going back without much contribution.
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While the batters continue to struggle, the bowling for India is all too dependent on Jasprit Bumrah as the other bowlers are not consistent although Mohammad Siraz, Harshit Rana and others were good in patches so far, but overall, Bumrah is doing the bulk of the wicket taking and India needs atleast one bowler supporting him and sharing the load of Bumrah.
Mohammad Shami was tipped to be part of the squad in Australia, not sure whether he flew to Australia yet, he might be the best bet with Siraz struggling.
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While KL Rahul continues his solid performance with the bat in this series, like bowlers, even batters are not consistent and India is paying the price for that in this test with India although avoided follow-on, but Fifth day can be very interesting if there is no rain interruption as Australia still has 193 runs lead and unless the last pair of Bumrah and Akash Deep contribute hugely, India will still be on the backfoot as Australia might score brisk runs in the First session and may ask India to bat in the Second and Third session to try and bowl them out.
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Virat Kohli was brilliant in Second innings in Adelaide by scoring a century after a long time in tests, but hi struggle against outside the stumps and chasing those outgoing balls continues as he is being inconsistent along with others including captain Rohit Sharma.
Except for the century in Second innings, even Yashasvi Jaiswal is struggling and the likes of Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and even Rishabh Pant along with captain Sharma needs to put their hands up and contribute if India has to win the remaining 2 matches and ofcourse in the Second innings of this test if they get bat without any rain delays.
I forgot to mention another silver line in India's tour to Australia this year.
Yes, you might have guessed it already, it's Nitish Reddy who is making the news as he is another guy who has consistently scored some quick runs for India lower down the order and he also rolling his arms to bowl few overs and giving the main bowlers the much required rest in between.
Nitish has been bold and has played some good shots including the Australian like reverse hit or switch hit as we call it.
He is not looking like someone who made his debut in this series, he is among the runs albeit less than half century scores so far, but he is doing his bit for the cause of the team.
Keeping fingers crossed for India to do a better show tomorrow and atleast draw this test in Gabba and go with a positive intent into the Fourth test to be played in Melbourne.
Senior players needs to sort out their lose shots and make some contributions to take India to the safety as the Test Championship qualification is on the verge of getting out of India's hands and most probably, they need to win both the remaining tests to assure a guaranteed birth for the finals spot with South Africa sitting pretty at the top right now in rankings for the qualification to play in finals.
I will come back with some updates probably tomorrow or day after that, until then, keep writing, keep smiling :)
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