INDORE: Australia made a strong comeback in the series beating India by 9 wickets here at the Holkar Stadium to reduce the four-Test series deficit to 1-2. With this win, the Australians have also qualified for the World Test Championship final.
Australian openers Usman Khawaja and Travis Head walked out to bat needing 76 runs to win. Ravichandran Ashwin gave India a terrific start by dismissing Khawaja on the second ball of the day.
Then Marnus Labuschagne and Head batted sensibly. Their defensive play meant that India did not get any further wickets, and once they were set they shifted gears.
Travis Head started hitting boundaries and sixes which helped the visitors notch up the 50-run mark in 14.2 overs.
Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja failed to dislodge the batters and pacer Umesh Yadav was also introduced into the attack but even he failed to make an impact.
Labuschagne went on to hit the winning run as Australia chased down the target in 18.5 overs. Head remained unbeaten on 49 while Labuschagne was not out on 28.
Brief Scores: India: 109/10 in 33.2 overs in 1st inns (Virat Kohli 22, Shubman Gill 21, Matthew Kuhnemann 5-16), Australia: 197/10 in 76.3 overs in 1st inns (Usman Khawaja 60, Marnus Labuschagne 31, Ravindra Jadeja 4-78, Umesh Yadav 3-12, Ravichandran Ashwin 3-44);
India 163 (Cheteshwar Pujara 59; Nathan Lyon 8-64); Australia 78/1 in 18.5 overs (Travis Head 49*, Marnus Labuschagne 28*; Ravichandran Ashwin 1/44). (ANI)