Australia’s lack of a genuine all-rounder came back to bite them at the Gabba on Tuesday after Josh Hazlewood was hobbled by a calf injury but they are still a slim chance of winning the third Test.
Mitchell Marsh sent down just two overs on yet another rain-interrupted day in Brisbane and with India 9-252 when bad light stopped play late in proceedings and with more wet weather in Wednesday’s forecast, a draw looks all but certain after India’s unbroken 39-run last-wicket stand avoided the follow-on.
Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc shouldered a heavy burden with Hazlewood out with Nathan Lyon offering his usual support to hold up an end but Marsh was given just a couple of token overs at the start of the day.
Hazlewood suffered the injury in the warm-up and tried to soldier on but left the field early in the first session and did not return.
He has been ruled out of the team for the fourth Test on Boxing Day in Melbourne and is highly unlikely to be right for the SCG series finale with Scott Boland set to deputise again.
Cummins produced the bowling skipper’s version of a captain’s knock to take 4-80 from 21 overs with Starc bagging 3-83 from 24.
Cummins’ class confounds India
Jasprit Bumrah is undoubtedly the best bowler in world cricket but Cummins is not far behind.
The Australian captain was a class above the Indian batters on a day four which was marred by a series of rain delays.
His first strike arrived early when he jagged a leg-cutter away from opposite number Rohit Sharma, who nicked off for 10 to leave the tourists in deep strife at 5-74.
KL Rahul should have gone from the first ball of the day but Steve Smith grassed a sitter that he would have eaten up 99 times out of 100 times. Unfortunately for Cummins, this was the hundredth occasion and he spilled the straightforward chance.
Rahul made the Aussies pay, reaching his half-century and building a 67-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja before he was snaffled by Smith at slip off Lyon.
Pat Cummins celebrates dismissing Rohit Sharma. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Unlike his earlier blunder, Smith showed sharp reflexes to anticipate Rahul’s thick outside edge by moving to his right before the ball left his blade and then wrapping his right paw around the ball in an athletic grab.
At 6-141, the follow-on started entering the equation but Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy frustrated the locals with a 53-run partnership before the younger of the two all-rounders was totally befuddled by Cummins.
After nearly chopping on the previous delivery, Reddy was far from ready for Cummins’ masterful bowling and the next off-cutter found the inside edge and clattered into the stumps to leave India at 7-194.
Another rain delay brought an early tea interval before Mohammed Siraj went for one after edging Starc to a diving Carey.
Jadeja became Cummins’ fourth victim when he fell to Marsh at deep square leg for 77 and 32 runs shy of the follow-on target, India’s openers looked like they would be batting again before stumps.
But Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep rode their luck to slog and scrap their way past the 200-run deficit with Deep edging Cummins over the gully to reach the target and then smashing the tiring Aussie skipper over the mid-wicket boundary before the umpires called an early halt to proceedings.
For the Aussies to conjure up victory on day five, they need to quickly polish off the final wicket, blast at least 100 runs before bowling India out a second time with the tourists unlikely to chase a target anyway because they would be happy to go to Melbourne with the series locked at 1-1.
Webster should get call-up for MCG
Hazlewood gritted his teeth to try to play through the pain but only lasted one over with his pace well down and his trademark accuracy not what it should be.
Cricket Australia later put out a statement to say he was unlikely to feature in either of the remaining two Tests.
Boland is a no-brainer to come into the XI for the MCG where he feasts on opposing batters.
The fact that Marsh is a batter who occasionally bowls rather than a true all-rounder means the selectors need to seriously consider bringing squad member Beau Webster into the line-up.
Webster can send down seamers as well as off-spinners and, crucially, there are no concerns about his fitness to bowl as many overs as required.
The Tasmanian all-rounder has been in fine form with bat and ball for the past two summers whereas Marsh has tapered off recently after rejuvenating his career last year.
Marsh said before this Test that he had shrugged off his niggling injuries but he is either still not quite right to take on a heavy workload or Cummins does not have the confidence in his fragile body to withstand the strain.
Cummins and Starc have bowled themselves into the ground at the Gabba and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they are feeling the pinch heading into next week’s Boxing Day blockbuster.
Queensland duo Brendan Doggett and Xavier Bartlett, and NSW veteran Sean Abbott will be in contention for selection in the fourth Test squad but Boland is all but certain to get the nod for Hazlewood.
Rohit’s on borrowed time
Sharma’s time as Indian captain is surely coming to an end.
He is hiding down the order at No.6 and not making any impact with the bat, dismissed for ??? on Tuesday to follow up measly scores of three and six in Adelaide after missing the series opener on parental leave.
Sharma’s decision to bowl first in this Test has backfired big time and KL Rahul looks a much more formidable option at opener, so you can see why the Indian brains trust has demoted the skipper to the last of the recognised batters in the middle order.
At his best, Sharma could dominate bowling attacks and had a reputation as one of the hardest-hitting batters in world cricket.
But he now looks sluggish and on his last legs as an international cricketer. If the Indians surrender the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after four straight series wins over Australia, he should be told it’s time to jump or be pushed from the sinking ship.