Melbourne, Dec 29 (IANS) Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne credited the late effort of the lower-order for extending their lead in the ongoing fourth Test against India despite a resilient attack from the visiting pacers led by Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday.
After bowling out India for 369 in the first session of Day 4, Australia were reeling at 91/6 before late contributions from Pat Cummins (41), Nathan Lyon (41 not out) and Scott Boland (10 not out) dragged them to 228/9 at stumps, leading by 333 runs.
Earlier, Labuschagne struck his second consecutive half-century of the match and was also involved in a crucial 57-run stand for the seventh wicket with Cummins.
However, wickets of Labuschagne (70), Mitchell Starc (5) and Cummins in quick succession opened doors for India to gain momentum, but the unbeaten partnership between Lyon and Boland shifted the tide in Australia’s favour.
“The perfect outcome for us would have probably looked like having a bowl tonight and putting them under pressure. But the way the wicket played and the way India bowled and came out and put us under pressure in those first 40 to 50 overs, that wasn’t an option for us,” Labuschagne was quoted as saying by the ICC.
“It became, let’s get as many runs as we can and that’s obviously creeping into a nice total now, but there was a time there where it could have been 250 or 270 (run lead) or maybe even less there for a bit. So I think we navigated that really well and the lower-order deserve a lot of credit, for how they managed that last part,” he added.
The Australian batter also brushed aside India’s chances of replicating their memorable fourth-inning run chase at the Gabba from 2021, where the visitors chased down 328 for a famous victory at the Gabba in Brisbane.
“That wicket at the Gabba was flat. There were some cracks appearing there for memory, but the wicket itself was really nice. I remember that wicket because I think that it (the match) almost started a day early or two days early and it was like a Day 2 wicket on Day 1 and it was quite firm,” Labuschagne recalled on Sunday.
“There was a little bit of bounce there as you do get in Brisbane, but it was a nice wicket. And we were also in that position in that Test where we had to win the series, so we had to try and set a total.
“Ideally we would have liked to set India more in that game and probably bowl a few less overs, but because we had to win we had to risk it a little bit more,” he concluded.
The match’s result on Monday will also give an edge to the winner in the five-Test series, which is currently tied 1-1. With the World Test Championship (WTC) final spot on the line, both teams will look to finish on high before moving to Sydney for the series finale.
–IANS
ab/bc
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