Manic moments for India, magic for Oz

For two sessions, in front of a record crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Day 5 of the Boxing Day Test, all of India held its collective breath as the team displayed a sense of balance that had gone missing from its bravado-filled approach in recent times.

- Ashish Magotra

MELBOURNE:

Then, in a manic last session, triggered by Rishabh Pant's rash stroke, India lost their last seven wickets for 34 runs in the space of 20.3 overs. The 184-run defeat means India go into the last Test at Sydney down 1-2 in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series.

In the morning session, the openers had batted carefully - putting on 25 runs in 16 overs even as the Aussie pacers were putting on a show. Skipper Rohit Sharma (9 off 40 balls) was particularly circumspect. But the contest of the session pitted Yashasvi Jaiswal against Mitchell Starc. There was a beautiful shape to the left-armer's deliveries and good pace too. Jaiswal played and missed a fair bit but, more importantly, survived.

But after a period of restraint, it was clear that Rohit wanted to assert himself. Not so much because India wanted to chase a win, rather he wanted to find a way to put the pressure back on the Aussies. It was precisely what the hosts were counting on.

A miscued pull shot signalled his intent but then he tried whip one from outside off to the leg-side. The ball swung late, took the outside edge and Mitchell Marsh at gully finished the job to give Pat Cummins a wicket. But it wasn't panic stations yet for the visitors - the approach to this point had been correct.

But then KL Rahul (0) fell off the last ball of the same over. Suddenly, India had lost two wickets and there was a familiar sinking feeling.

Virat Kohli (5 off 29) strode in next and for the next nine overs he seemed ready to battle for his team. He looked focussed, left the ball well and looked pretty solid. But then in the last ball before lunch, Starc got him with a ball that was full and angling away. The crucial factor, though, was that it was wide enough to entice the batter to go for the drive. The resulting edge was taken by Usman Khawaja at slip and India went into lunch at a precarious 33/3.