Australia -India Border Gavaskar Vodaphone Test Series 
Boxing Day Test at MCG Played 26-30 December 2020 

Brief Scorecard 
Australia 1st Innings 195 All Out in 73.2 Overs (Marnus Labuchagne 48, Travis Head 38, Matthew Wade 30, Jasprit Bumrah 4/56, Ravindra Jadeja 3/35, Mohammed Siraj 2/40) 
Australia 2nd Innings 200 All Out in 103.1 Overs (Matthew Wade 40, Cameroon Green 45, Marnus Labuchagne 28, Pat Cummins 22, Ravindra Jadeja 2/28, Jasprit Bumrah 2/54, Ravichandra Ashwin 2/71, Umesh Yadav 1/5) 
India 1st Innings 326 All Out in 115.1 Overs (Ajinka Rahane 112, Shuvman Gill 45, Ravindra Jadeja 57, Rishab Pant 29, Mitchel Starc 3/78, Nathan Lyon 3/272, Pat Cummins 2/80) 
India 2nd Innings 70/2 in 15.5 Overs (Shuvman Gill 35*, Ajinka Rahane 27*) 
India Won MCG Test by 8 wickets 
Four Test Series is now 1-1 after 2 tests 
Player of The Match: Ajinka Rahane 

Dominating the Boxing Day MCG test right from the start Team India won it in three days and a half by 8 wickets. A magnificent win and great come back in the series after a disastrous loss in the first test.
 
Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the coliseum of world cricket has witnessed so many great test matches over the years. Even India won a few matches here. But the manner in which a down and out team after disastrous loss at Adelaide the win at MCG was a great turning around. The historic win has leveled the widely viewed across the cricket series 1-1. Australia scoring 200 in the second innings set a target of 70 for India for win. Once again captain excellent Ajinka Rahane pairing with debutant Shuvman Gill raced across the victory target in 15.5 Overs striking 51 unfinished runs in the 3rd wicket partnership.

The test series was the talk of the cricket world ever since COVID-19   deferred ICC T20 world cup scheduled to be held in Australia. India won the series last time when they visited Australia. The interests and excitements of the series reached sky high after Australia winning ODI series 2-1 and India bouncing back in T20 series 2-1.
  
India was crushed to huge defeat in the day night pink ball test at Adelaide. The most striking feature of the test was India getting shocked and awed bundled out for their lowest test score of 36 in the second innings. The situation got complicated for India as their bowling spearhead Mohammad Sami got injured and Captain Kohli left for home for staying beside his wife expecting the arrival of the first child. India appeared with four changes including two debutants Shuvman Gill and Mohammad Siraj.
 
A need needs great cricket character to bounce back from its back to the wall. India did it and did it in great fashion adding a new page in their cricket history. 
Australia appearing with unchanged team elected to bat after winning the toss. Indian bowlers unit Jasprit Bumrah, Ashwin, Jadeja, Yadav and even debutant Siraj bowled with passion. We are not when in the recent past Australia struggled while batting first in the Boxing Day after the tests against fearsome West Indies attack. Australia managed 195 in the first Innings against quality bowling of Bumrah (4/ 56), Ashwin (3/ 35) and Siraj (2/40). The drop in pitch had lot of bounce and turn suiting Indian bowling. Unfortunately, Australian top order including ace batsman Steve Smith failed. Labuchagne (48) and Head (38) saved the Australian innings from total disaster.
 
Indian response was championed by stand in captain Rahane scoring his second successive century (112) in MCG appearance and Jadeja scoring 57. Despite quality Australian bowling on wicket having uneven bounce India could score 326 gaining a very decisive 131 runs lead.

Australian top order again failed second time scoring 200 and setting an easy target of 70 for India to winning and squaring the series. Australian bowlers created few issues removing Agarwall and Pujara. But debutant Gill (35*) and Rahane (27*) ensured that mission could be achieved without further drama. India won by 8 wickets and is looking good for more success in the remaining two matches.

No praise would be enough for the excellent batting and proactive leadership of Stand In captain Ajinka Rahane. On a wicket when most batsmen of either team struggled Rahane was the stand out batsman. Debutants Gill and Siraj are the find of the test. Both would serve Indian cricket for a long time. Cheteswar Pujara is finding it a bit difficult to playing his sheet anchor role. Agarwall is looking poor. Rohit Sharma may be available from the third test. India will need a replacement for injured Yadav as well. 

Australia has genuine problem with their batting. The main concerns are opening partnership and Smith out of form. The return of David Warner may address one of the issues. Wade is getting runs but his contribution will be greater in the late middle order.  A genuine opener should be included. It will need one good innings for Smith getting back to his brilliant best. 

BDST: 1206 HRS, DEC 29, 2020
AP