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India vs Australia, Live Cricket Score, Fourth Test Day 5 at Sydney: Rain Delays Start, India Eye 3-1 Series Win

Cricketnext Staff | Updated: January 7, 2019, 5:34 AM IST

4th Test, Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Sydney 03 - 07 January, 2019

Live Now : Toss won by India (decided to bat)

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05:34(IST)

UPDATE: Unfortunately it's still raining in Sydney, but it's not heavy at all. But for play to start it will have to completely go away. 

05:21(IST)

This is not looking good for the Indians. They would look at around 70 overs at least to bundle out the opposition and win the series 3-1. But rain and bad light have hampered their chances. 

05:13(IST)

“We drew upon all those experiences and said that to be successful in Australia, we need to make sure that we took the cut and pull out of the Australian batsmen and then focus on our strengths. That’s exactly what we did.” India have had an odd sort of year in that the wins they were desperate for in South Africa and England did not materialise. But, even those failures have helped the team pick up vital information that would help them seal the deal in Australia. 

05:04(IST)

The fact that India were willing to push themselves, asking their bowlers to shoulder the extra burden of rocking up twice in a row, showed just how keen they were to end the series on 3-1 rather than coast to 2-1. After all, the declaration in the first innings was not especially needed, given that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was already in the bag and India had put on such a mountain of runs that Australia weren’t really in with a shout to win the game.  That the call to enforce the follow-on was taken so early on, and that too with India missing Ishant Sharma and R Ashwin, two of its first-choice bowlers. The fact that Kohli and Ravi Shastri trusted the current pick of bowlers to do the job showed the esteem in which they held their own and the confidence they had. “We do have a lot of respect for their fast-bowling attack and I think they are probably one of the best in the world. But we were more focused on what we could do, and we have also come to Australia previously and we knew how the wickets would be in Australia and things like that – very similar to the ones we got in South Africa,” said Arun. 

04:58(IST)

“Yesterday, actually when the Aussies were 150-odd for five, and also taking into account the weather forecast we said that we would definitely enforce the follow-on if we get them out pretty quickly,” revealed Bharat Arun, India’s bowling coach.  “This is probably one of the best wickets we have played on from the batsmen’s point of view. So, we were aware that to win this game we need that many overs to bowl. And also the fact that weather was a lot kinder than what it was in the first three days and also the fact it’s a great opportunity for us to make it 3-1 scoreline, that was a huge motivation for us to go and give all that we have to make it 3-1.”

04:55(IST)

Even with nearly 65 overs lost, India have given themselves more than enough time to realistically bowl out Australia again. Kohli became the only the second Indian captain — Kapil Dev was the first at the same ground back in 1986 — to enforce the follow on. So dominant have Australia been at home that the last time they were asked to follow on was in 1988, and since then have gone 172 Tests without putting themselves in such a situation. But, India had been thinking about the follow-on even before the fourth day began, with Australia having four wickets still in hand. 

04:50(IST) Meanwhile, the rain has gotten a bit heavier
04:49(IST)

As for India, their batting line-up stood up, Cheteshwar Pujara having the series of his life, Rishabh Pant kicking on and Virat Kohli making vital runs. But, on a rain-hit penultimate day, what came to the fore once more was the superiority of India’s bowlers.  Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav all did a job, as soon as drizzle allowed play, bowling out Australia for only 300, and the lead of 322 with the rest provided by the breaks was enough for Kohli to enforce the follow-on.

04:45(IST)

At the start of the India-Australia Test series, if you wanted to put money on each of the four games going the full distance, and being comprehensively decided on the final day you would have got pretty good odds.  For, it was clear from early on that Australia had an international standard bowling attack, but their batting was thin on the ground. It was thought then that the batting was mostly made up of their two senior players, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh, but, with only one innings left to go, neither player has given the team what was expected of them.

04:40(IST)
04:35(IST)

India would be hoping to squeeze in another win if the light allows that to happen. Hello and welcome to the fifth and final day of the last Test between India and Australia. 

India vs Australia, Live Cricket Score, Fourth Test Day 5 at Sydney: Rain Delays Start, India Eye 3-1 Series Win

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Live Updates: UPDATE: Unfortunately it's still raining in Sydney, but it's not heavy at all. But for play to start it will have to completely go away.

Catch all the live action from Day 5 of the fourth Test between India and Australia at Sydney here.

Day 4 report: Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav (5 for 99) got enough time to complete his second Test five-wicket haul, but constant drizzle and bad light ensured that only 25.2 overs were possible on day four of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia in Sydney on Sunday (January 6).

Australia were bundled out for 300 in 104.5 overs in reply to India's 622 for 7 (decl) after the first session was washed out. Indian skipper Virat Kohli wasted no time in enforcing the follow-on, and the home side were six without loss in four overs when play had to be stopped because of bad light, not allowing India to bowl a single delivery in the final session as well. Australia are still 316 runs in arrears and India will look to end this series with a scoreline of 3-1 if weather permits on the final day.

Earlier, persistent light rain prevented any play in the morning session. A huge storm rolled in late Saturday, forcing play to finish half an hour early, and the overcast skies lingered into Sunday. Lunch on day four was taken without a ball being bowled.

When the match finally started in the second session, Mohammed Shami castled overnight batsman Pat Cummins in the very first over for 25. Cummins had batted well till then but had no answer to Shami's delivery that kept low and scooted under his bat.

Peter Handscomb crafted a couple of good-looking shots against Kuldeep but could only add nine runs to his overnight score as he was sent back by Jasprit Bumrah. The paceman kept pegging Handscomb back with short ones and then brought one back in out of nowhere as the ball found the inside edge of the bat, clipped the right-hander's pad and went back to rattle the off-stump.

Coming in at No. 10, Nathan Lyon couldn't offer any resistance like he has done in the series and was trapped right in front of the stumps, becoming Kuldeep's fourth victim. The visitors had a chance to wrap up the innings much earlier when Kuldeep induced a top-edge off Josh Hazlewood's blade but Hanuma Vihari running back from mid-on shelled a simple chance. Australia's score at the time was 264 for 9.

Mitchell Starc (29*) and Hazlewood (21) then stuck for a while and brought the deficit down to some extent by adding 42 runs for the final wicket. The two kept playing their shots, most of them being straight-batted, and kept India at bay.

It was Kuldeep who broke the frustrating stand by pinning Hazlewood right in front of the stumps and completed his five-fer. India have enough runs to play with and they did decide to impose the follow-on, which meant this is the first time in 30 years Australia have had to follow on in a home Test. The last time this happened was at the same venue in 1988 against England in the one-off Bicentennial Test.
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RankTeamPointsRating
1 India 4397 116
2 England 5310 108
3 New Zealand 3213 107
4 South Africa 3712 106
5 Australia 3663 102
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