Rohit, Virat fail again as India lose by 184 runs

Melbourne : India slumped to a demoralising 184-run loss to Australia in the fourth Test here on Monday with contemporary greats Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failing to come good yet again, signalling that their walk towards the exit door is not too far.

Chasing a near improbable target of 340, both Rohit (9 off 40 balls) and Kohli (5) failed to battle their technical frailties and mental cobwebs as India lost seven wickets for 34 runs in just 20.4 overs in the final session to be all out for 155 in 79.1 overs.

Australian captain Pat Cummins (3/28 in 18 overs) was superb as usual and Scott Boland was also magnificent (3/39 in 16 overs) in his every spell. Nathan Lyon (2/37 in 20.1 overs) took advantage of variable bounce while Mitchell Starc (1/25 in 16 overs) got the prized scalp of Kohli. This was after an 88-run fourth-wicket stand between Yashasvi Jasiwal and Rishabh Pant.

“Pretty disappointing. We wanted to fight but we could not do it,” a dejected Rohit said in the post-match presentation. “We tried everything but they fought hard. We did not grab our chances,” he conceded.

Australia now lead the series 2-1 and unless India draw level in Sydney, a third successive World Test Championship final could become a distant dream. Even to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India would need to post a win.

Save Jaiswal (84, 208 balls), whose controversial caught-behind in which the third umpire overruled technology to adjudge him out, none of the other batters performed well enough to save the team.

“They batted well in the middle session. We knew that we had to get one breakthrough and anything can happen and that proved to be the case.

“We had plenty of runs to play with, we had plenty of fielders with the helmet around,” a beaming Cummins, who was also adjudged player of the match for his haul of six wickets, said in the presentation ceremony.

The art of saving Test matches has slowly become extinct but India would have depended on their two senior-most players, who are also fighting to save their legacy and reputation built over nearly two decades.

In case of Rishabh Pant, it was one bad shot too many after a full session in which he concentrated. He got a rank long hop from Travis Head but after a 103-ball vigil, it all came to a naught. Even Jaiswal’s guts and grit couldn’t prevent a once highly-rated, but currently a trifle over-rated, Indian batting line-up from implosion with over-the-hill seniors and young superstars unable to handle the pressure.

The defeat could have severe repercussions as there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for skipper Rohit. As for Kohli, despite all his white-ball exploits, the problems outside the off-stump will stick out like a sore thumb.

Brief Scores:

Australia 474 and 234 in 83.4 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 70, Nathan Lyon 41; Jasprit Bumrah 5-57, Mohammed Siraj 3-70) beat India 369 and155 in 79.1 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 84, Rishabh Pant 30; Pat Cummins 3-28, Scott Boland 3-39) by 184 runs.