Head, Labuschagne take Australia home in fourth-innings chase against India

Australia finished off the job on day three against India in Indore to win the third Test by nine wickets and seal their place in the final of the ICC World Test Championship in June. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne weathered the early storm from the Indian spinners and guided Australia home in their chase of 76 to beat the hosts inside three days and pull the series back at 2-1 ahead of the final Test in Ahmedabad.

Following their spectacular bowling performance on day two, the visitors took the field on the third morning with a target of 76 runs in their fourth innings run chase. The hosts, meanwhile, needed ten wickets to secure an improbable victory, and Ravichandran Ashwin did give the Men in Blue the perfect start in the opening over.

The off-spinner removed Usman Khawaja off just the second ball of the chase, with Usman Khawaja poking at a delivery outside off-stump and feathering an edge to KS Bharat behind the stumps to fall for a duck. However, India’s optimism was short-lived as Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the ship after Khawaja’s dismissal to guide Australia home.

The pair trusted their defence and saw off the new ball threat from Ashwin and Jadeja without taking any risks, scoring just 13 runs in the opening 10.2 overs. Having got their eye in, Travis Head moved through the gears in the 11th over. The left-hander lofted Ashwin for a four and six over mid-on to ease the pressure, while Ravindra Jadeja conceded two fours against Head and Labuschagne in the next over to kill India’s chances.

The boundaries continued to flow from then on as Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne grew in confidence. Rohit Sharma turned to Umesh Yadav for a couple of overs as a last throw of the dice, but Australia eased home inside 19 overs, with Travis Head scoring an unbeaten 49 off 53 deliveries.

With this victory, Australia became the first team to qualify for the final of the ICC World Test Championship at the Oval in June. India, meanwhile, suffer just their third loss at home in red ball cricket since 2017 and will have to revisit the drawing board ahead of the final Test in Ahmedabad as they look to win the series and secure their spot in the World Test Championship final.