After losing the first two Test matches of the Border-Gavaskar trophy, Australia did the unexpected in the 3rd Test as the visitors maintained their grip in most of the sessions of the game. Under the leadership of stand-in captain Steven Smith, Australia got a much-needed breather as the legendary batter made some brilliant changes in the bowling and fielding to restrict the host to 163 in their 2nd innings.
With just 76 to chase, Australia was hoping to easily get the target and register their maiden win in the bilateral but little they knew that Indian off-spinner R Ashwin was raring to give them a nightmare. It was only the second delivery of Day 3 when Ashwin turned away the delivery as Khwaja gets forward to defend and goes through to the keeper. Anticipating an early breakthrough, Indian players went for an appeal and luckily got the desired decision from the umpire as Australia’s top-order batter was given out.
Although, Khawaja went upstairs but a spike on the ultra-edge cleared all the doubts.
Check out the video of the dismissal.
Despite an early breakthrough, Team India could not capitalize on situation as Australian batters Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne remained unbeaten to guide Australia home. Both the batters no more joy for the host and quickly chased down the low target without any hurdle.
With that win, Australia has put India in a must-win situation as Men in Blue desperately requires a win to qualify for the World Test Championship final. India is currently second placed team in the WTC points table but need to clinch Border-Gavaskar Trophy by at least 3-1 to appear in the second successive WTC final.
Meanwhile, Australia has already qualified and will try its best to stop India from coming to Oval. The final and fourth Test match of the series will start from March 9 at Narendra Modi stadium in Gujarat.