5th Test: Relentless Boland picks 4 as Australia bowl out India for 185

Sydney, Jan 3 (IANS) A relentless Scott Boland proved to be India’s nemesis yet again by picking a four-wicket haul as Australia bowled out India for a paltry 185 on day one of fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

Electing to bat first on a grassy pitch backfired for India, as they suffered another first-innings failure to be dismissed for a score below 200 for the fifth time in the ongoing series.

Apart from Boland’s 4-31, Mitchell Starc took 3-49 while skipper Pat Cummins chipped in with two scalps as Australia’s fast bowlers took nine wickets in a an accurate bowling performance.

On a cloudy morning, India left out captain Rohit Sharma, with Jasprit Bumrah replacing him at the helm. In the morning, Starc and Cummins got some steep bounce on the green SCG pitch, which has shown signs of being on the slower side.

KL Rahul initially showed good judgement to balls outside the off-stump, but fell for four off 14 balls after chipping a half-volley on leg-stump to square leg off Starc. Boland struck with his fourth ball in India’s eighth over when he got to nip one away and extracted an outside edge of Jaiswal’s bat, which was safely caught by debutant Beau Webster at third slip, as the opener fell for 10 off 26 balls.

The seamer almost got his second wicket on the bounce when he found Virat Kohli's outside edge, and Steve Smith dived across to catch to his right at second slip. But it seemed like Smith had got his fingers underneath the ball and flicked the grass while scooping the ball to Marnus Labuschagne at gully, something which TV umpire Joel Wilson spotted while ruling Kohli not out.

From there, Kohli, batting with his stance covering middle and off stumps, looked solid in defence, even as Gill got a great start by collecting a four each off Cummins and Starc. Just when it felt that India would end the session unscathed, Gill danced down the pitch against Nathan Lyon in the final over before lunch, but he managed to only nick him behind to slip and fell for 20 off 64 balls.

The post-lunch session began on a bad note for India as Boland got to seam away sharply Kohli jabbed at the delivery on a fifth-sixth stump line to give a catch to debutant Beau Webster in the slips and fell or 17 off 69 balls.

Starc also turned up his pace and left Pant with a bruise on his bicep, as well as hitting him on the helmet, leaving the left-handed batter circumspect. Starc’s pace was too hot to handle for Jadeja as he looked to duck his rapid bouncers.

After cutting Starc past backward point for four, Pant danced down the pitch to smack Webster over the sightscreen for six, despite taking in a blow to his body again. Jadeja got his first boundary of the match by driving Lyon past non-striker for four, before being dropped by the off-spinner at five against Webster.

Pant rocked back to cut Lyon in the gap between backward point and cover point to end a slow scoring session for India. Post-tea break, Pant attempted to pull off Boland, but top edged straight to mid-on and fell for 40. One brought two as Nitish Kumar Reddy steered Boland’s wide short one straight to slip.

Jadeja tried resurrecting the innings with two more boundaries before being trapped plumb lbw by Starc for 22. Washington Sundar hit three boundaries in his 14 off 30 balls before being bounced out by Cummins, with Wilson saying the snicko detected a little spike as the ball brushed past the glove.

Though Jasprit Bumrah hanged around by hitting three fours and a six in his 17-ball 22, the highest score by an Indian skipper in the ongoing series, Australia wrapped up the innings as Starc had Prasidh Krishna heaving straight to the deep fielder, while Cummins got the Indian captain holing out in the same fashion to bring an end to another sorry batting show by the visitors’.

Brief scores: India 185/10 in 72.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 40, Ravindra Jadeja 26; Scott Boland 4-31, Mitchell Starc 3-49) against Australia

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