Yashasvi Jaiswal let go of a glorious opportunity to see the back of Marnus Labuschagne on Day 4 of the fourth Test between India and Australia on Sunday. At the MCG, Jasprit Bumrah’s spirited spell had Australia on the backfoot at 99/6 but with a 204-run lead.
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In the 40th over, Akash Deep darted in with a back of a length delivery around off stump, the Aussie middle-order batter, on 46 at the time, opened the face of the bat in an attempt at guiding the ball towards third man only to send it towards Jaiswal at gully. In what appeared to be catching practice, the India opener let go of the routine catch at a nice height.
The frustration was evident in the Indian camp as both bowler Akash Deep and skipper Rohit Sharma, stationed alongside him in the slip cordon, were visibly upset.
It wasn’t the first mistake in the field by Jaiswal. Earlier in the day, he allowed Usman Khawaja to continue with a drop at leg gully.
In that instance, Jasprit Bumrah bowled a full ball towards the pads, Khawaja flicked it and it came off the full face of the bat. Jaiswal got low to take the chance, got both hands to it but the ball burst through in the end.
Eventually, Khawaja went on to score 21 runs before falling to Mohammed Siraj. Labuschagne, meanwhile, ticked past the half century mark and was on 54 at the time of writing.
In the first session, India were dismissed for 369, adding just 11 runs to their overnight total, giving Australia a 105 run lead.
Nitish Kumar Reddy was the last wicket to fall, caught in the deep for 114 after reaching his maiden Test century on day three. Mohammed Siraj remained unbeaten on four.
Nathan Lyon (3-96) joined Pat Cummins and Scott Boland in taking three wickets each for Australia.
