Kuldeep Yadav almost did not get his fifer when Hanuma Vihari dropped a sitter. (Reuters Photo)There was a sizeable crowd remaining at the Sydney Cricket Ground to cheer Kuldeep Yadav when the 24-year-old led his team back to the pavilion. He was holding the ball up and waving at the stands. Kuldeep had claimed a fifer in his very first Test match in Australia. The crowd had stayed despite the fact that the first session was washed out.
The teams would come out once again after India enforced the follow-on. Australia were dismissed for 300 and still trailing by 316 runs four overs into their second innings when Test cricket started showing its more eccentric nature. The umpires looked up, had a short conference and then led the players back into the hut. Early Tea was called for and there was no cricket after that.
Much of the chatter in social media was around the ludicrous nature of the situation. Harsha Bhogle said on Sony while talking to the broadcaster’s commentary panel that he could see the other end of the ground pretty clearly from where he was standing.
The crowd started waving their phone torchlights about 40 minutes after the umpires had led the players back and many were asking for incoming spectators to shine headlights of their cars on the Sydney Cricket Ground.
No issues with the light in the games being played outside the SCG. pic.twitter.com/4A7gWLLEP7
— Steve Cannane (@SteveCannane) 6 January 2019
The umpires taking the players off for bad light when the lights are burning bright is rediculous. Cricket is too precious. Communication can solve this. With all the advancements of other sports, this infuriates viewers and loses eyeballs. It is a crazy situation. #AUSvIND #SCG pic.twitter.com/T2H7uyzjaD
— Mike Haysman (@MikeHaysman) 6 January 2019
The SCG crowd, clearly bored of these shenanigans, are ‘helping’ by shining their phone flashlights into the middle.
Anyone who came by car, please park facing the pitch and turn your full beams on.#AUSvIND 🏏🇦🇺🇮🇳
— Guerilla Cricket (@guerillacricket) 6 January 2019
In the 25.2 overs that could be played on Sunday, Kuldeep almost didn’t get a fifer thanks to Hanuma Vihari dropping a sitter, India asked Austalia to follow-on in the latter’s own backyard for the first time since 1986 and Jasprit Bumrah bowled an over in which he hit speeds north of 145kph for fun. India are also the first travelling team to enforce a follow-on in Australia since 1988.
Play was supposed to start half an hour early on Day 4 to make for the overs lost due to the early end that had to be called on Saturday. While the initial delay came due to bad light, it soon started pouring. It became clear that no play could be possible in the morning session and early Lunch was called for. Rain in the morning was the forecast on the previous day for Sunday and so uninterrupted cricket was expected for the rest of the day.
Sure enough, the second session started as scheduled and had enough in it to allow India to take out the final four wickets. Ravindra Jadeja bowled the final three balls of the over that had been left halfway on Saturday before India took the new ball. Mohammed Shami took just two deliveries to dismiss Pat Cummins with it and Peter Handscomb became the first man to fall to Jasprit Bumrah in this match. Kuldeep Yadav got his fourth wicket in the form of Nathan Lyon.
Josh Hazlewood skied an attempted sweep off Kuldeep and Hanuma Vihari was under it at mid-on. But he went for it reverse-cupped and the ball bounced out of his hands. Hazlewood and Starc went on to put 42 runs for the final wicket, which was Australia’s third highest partnership in that innings before Kuldeep finally got his man.
