India vs Australia 4th Test Day 4 Live Score: India’s hopes of early wickets rest squarely on Jasprit Bumrah

At a stadium which has created heroes and iconic images throughout its fabled history, one more was added to the rich tapestry of the Melbourne Cricket Ground as Nitish Kumar Reddy headlined India’s fightback in the Boxing Day Test match on day three. Reddy brought up his maiden international century when India needed it most, with a fine display of stoic and solid defensive batting mixed in with some typical flourishing and aggressive strokeplay.

Although play was cut short by bad light and a spot of rain towards the end of day’s play, the most exciting 15 minutes of the day arrived right towards the end, with Washington Sundar’s dismissal on 50 after a terrific, match-saving 127-run partnership with Reddy. Reddy was batting 97* at the time, but Jasprit Bumrah’s dismissal partway through Pat Cummins’ over meant there was a real chance of the Andhra all-rounder being stranded down the other end on 99. With his family watching on from the crowd and clearly feeling the tension, much like the tens of thousands of Indian fans at the MCG, the crunch moment came as number eleven Mohammed Siraj played a picture-perfect forward defence to see out the over and turn the strike over to the man of the hour.

Celebrating in style with a reference to Bahubali, Reddy’s loft over mid-on brought up a crucial century, as India slowly continued to chip away at the deficit. Now, heading into day four, Reddy’s knock has ensured that India can be confident about avoiding a loss in Melbourne, if not potentially even harbour hopes of going for a win as this Test reaches its climax. India will head out with one wicket in hand and a 116-run deficit, but Reddy has shown himself to be capable of scoring runs at a canter when required. Anything from this point will be a bonus, with the pressure of the match situation on Australia’s batters once they walk in for their second innings.

If Pat Cummins’ men want to try and force a result, they will have to go hell-for-leather in a similar manner to the Gabba, which didn’t quite work out for them before rain interrupted day five and saw a wash-out draw. The question the Aussie think-tank will ask themselves is two-part: how many sessions do they think they will need to bowl India out a second time, and how many runs will they be comfortable defending in that amount of time?

The directive, particularly for young debutant Sam Konstas and firecracker Travis Head, will be to go out and bat with freedom and look for runs, with the knowledge that even if wickets fall, there are plenty of batters within the Australian team who are capable of hanging on and making sure it doesn’t turn ugly for the hosts. Australia might look to bat until the final 8-10 overs of day four, looking to get as close to a lead of 400 as possible, which might need them to score at almost 4 runs per over consistently through the day on a pitch which is gradually showing some signs of spice.

In that ideal situation, the Aussies will be on the hunt for a wicket or two in the fading light of Melbourne, heaping all the pressure right back onto India and asking a fragile batting order to see out the entirety of day five, by which point it would be extremely surprising if the pitch doesn’t begin to deteriorate and offer more for Australia’s deathly-precise bowling unit. The less time India bats in the fourth innings, the more likely a draw is, while if Australia collapse in pursuit of runs similar to at the Gabba, even a win might be on the cards for the visiting team.

Australia’s approach early in their innings on Sunday will come to define the direction that this match takes, with all three results fairly feasible at the moment. India will be keeping a wary eye on how much purchase Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep, as well as the spin duo of Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, will find on the MCG pitch.

Nitish Kumar Reddy established himself as one of the heroes of this year’s tour down under, but the story in this Test match might not be done quite yet.

Here are some pointers to India vs Australia 4th Test Day 4:

– India all out for 369, Australia start second innings with a lead of 105

– Nitish Kumar Reddy fell for 114 off 189 balls

– India start the day on an overnight score of 358/9, trailing Australia by 116 runs

– Nitish Kumar Reddy resumes on 105 off 176 balls while Mohammed Siraj is at the other end on two off seven