India’s veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is known for his mind games and tricky bowling in the longest format of cricket, and the fans witnessed the same thing during Day 3 of the 3rd Test between India and Australia. Ashwin was bowling the 9th over of the final innings of the match.
Australia was chasing a small target of 76 runs in the first session, and had already lost opener Usman Khawaja in the first over by Ashwin. The right-arm spinner came to bowl the 9th over to the no.1 Test batter Marnus Labuschagne. Ashwin was bowling the 5th ball of the over but was stopped in the middle of his bowling action by Labuschagne as he pulled out and walked off the pitch without any reason and was seen smiling at Aswhin.
However, Ashwin didn’t like his immature act and was looking frustrated and the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and the umpire had to intervene. Labuschagne explained why he stopped, and the play resumed after that. Labuschagne stitched an unbeaten partnership with Travis Head to take the team to their first victory of the series.
— Anna 24GhanteChaukanna (@Anna24GhanteCh2) March 3, 2023
Australia qualified for the WTC final
Earlier, India opted to bat first after winning the toss and displayed a horrible batting performance as they were restricted by the Australian bowlers to just 109 runs. Indian bowlers also bowled brilliantly as they dismissed the Australian batters with a score of 197 runs. Umesh Yadav bowled very well on this turning surface of Indore. He got rid of the Australian lower order easily.
But, the Indian batters didn’t learn anything from the mistakes they made in the first innings and bowled out for just 163 runs in the second innings. Nathan Lyon ripped apart India’s strong-looking batting line-up as he dismissed 8 Indian batters. Pujara was looking good in the middle and smashed a brilliant half-century, but Steve Smith’s outstanding catch in the leg slip made him walk away to the pavilion.
The third day started with Australia needing 76 runs to win the 3rd Test, and they didn’t take too much time as they achieved the target in the first session of the day and sealed their spot in the WTC final which will be played in June.
