Agencies
Adeliade, Dec 13: A gladiatorial battle between bat and ball took place on the final day at Adelaide Oval, where a Test that had begun in sorrow a week after the death of Phillip Hughes was given a dazzling finish that highlighted the greatness of this game. India's champion was Virat Kohli, a debutant captain with his sight fixed on a formidable target while all but one of his team-mates failed to show similar steel. For Australia, it was the spindly Nathan Lyon, suffering unsympathetic umpiring to single-handedly drag his team back into the contest, making up for the bluntness of his faster colleagues. The Test was decided when Kohli pulled Lyon and was caught at deep midwicket, leaving Australia with 60 to defend and three wickets to take. They won by 48 runs.
Having dismissed only two batsmen while conceding 205 runs in the first two sessions, and left with only 158 to protect in at least 37 overs after tea, Australia claimed the last eight Indian wickets for 73. Lyon took six of them to finish the Test with career-best match figures of 12 for 286, preventing India from stealing a match they had been behind in for four days. Kohli graciously acknowledged as much after the game, but had left nothing in reserve while trying to pull off what would have been the seventh highest successful chase in Test cricket. He become the second batsman - after Greg Chappell - to make two hundreds in a Test on captaincy debut. The cricket, however, was affected by poor umpiring. While there were some sharp decisions made over the first four days, the standards slipped drastically on the fifth, but perhaps unwittingly facilitated such an extraordinary contest. Ian Gould adjudged Shikhar Dhawan caught behind for 9, though the Mitchell Johnson bouncer had deflected off the batsman's shoulder. Marais Erasmus was Lyon's bane, failing to give Vijay lbw when he did not offer a shot on 24 and 64, and Kohli on 85. Erasmus then deemed Ajinkya Rahane caught at short leg, though Lyon's offbreak had bounced off the top of the front pad. The sight of Lyon imploring theatrically, often on his knees, was a recurring one. |
