‘Centuries ka Amrit Mahotsav!’ – India finish on 571, sets up nicely for all-important Day 5
Virat Kohli – Indian Team (Source – Twitter)
The fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is going to enter on day five as India finished day four with an 88-run lead over Australia. India’s inning ended on 571 for 9, while Australia are at 3 without any loss after the fourth day’s play with Matthew Kuhnemann and Travis Head at the crease.
The main highlight of the day was the 75th international century by Virat Kohli and his partnership with Axar Patel. Kohli finally ended his century drought in the red-ball cricket as he played a sensational knock of 186 runs off 364 balls.
The 34-year-old scored 15 boundaries during his inning. This was the first time since January 2022 that Kohli has scored more than 50 runs for India in Tests. It seems like Kohli has also regained his form in the longest format as well after he ended his century drought in the white-ball cricket.
Axar Patel scored third fifty of the series.
Starting the day with 289 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, following the tremendous century by Shubman Gill (128 off 235) on day three, India first lost the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja as he gave the catch to Marnus Labuschagne by playing an unnecessary shot off Todd Murphy’s delivery.
Jadeja got out after scoring 28 off 84 balls. KS Bharat also lost his wicket after getting a great start. The 29-year-old got out after scoring 44 runs off 88 balls hitting two fours and three sixes. After Bharat got out, Axar Patel joined Kohli at the crease.
The left-handed all-rounder scored his third half-century of the series, scoring 79 runs off 113 balls, a knock which had five fours and four sixes. Both Kohli and Patel added 162 runs for the sixth wicket as India took the lead of 91 runs in the first inning. This was the second-highest sixth partnership for India in Tests.
India lost nine wickets when Kohli got out but still their innings ended as Shreyas Iyer couldn’t come to bat due to back pain. For Australia, Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy scalped 3 wickets each, while Matthew Kuhnemann and Mitchell Starc shared a wicket each.
Here’s a look at how fans reacted to fourth day’s play:
धीरे धीरे समझ आ रहा है की घर वाले मंदिर जाने को क्यूँ कहते है #ViratKohli𓃵 pic.twitter.com/mvYvLf9T7P
— khelega kya? (@khelegakya) March 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/KunwarSamrendra/status/1634881757198827521
Each of the previous tests never reached till sunday to watch. When it reaches, we see a century from king kohli #INDvAUS
— Siva Kumar (@sivathambi) March 12, 2023
Incredible as always.
Ye Hunger for runs acha hai— Anoop Mundhra (@anoopmundhra) March 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/CricketPage3/status/1634882625373605888
Axar Patel you deserve this 🙌#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/KYasbQSrIu
— Demon Slayer 👺 (@Oneofthemankind) March 12, 2023
https://twitter.com/asmylemalhotra1/status/1634886622306238464
https://twitter.com/malasinhabjp/status/1634893286283571200
