India showed guts and determination in the third test at the SCG as they fought hard after being on the back foot for most of the test. India batted four sessions in the second innings to save the test and keep the series at 1-1. The final test at the Gabba on Jan 15 will be a series decider.
We take a look at the playing XI from the SCG test and rank them from 0 to 10. We will start with the batsmen and then go to the bowlers.
Indian Batsmen
R Sharma (6/10): came in cold after being out of action due to an injury and spending most of his time in quarantine. As a senior batsman in the squad, he stepped up scoring 26 and 52 respectively. He will want to make a big score in the fourth test and help Indian win.
S Gill (6/10): scored 50 in the first innings and 31 in the second innings. He was all class once again but knows that he needs to make big scores and bat longer once he gets set.
C Pujara (7/10) finally came to the party in Australia scoring 50 in the first innings and making an important 77 from 205 in the second innings. Pujara scores slowly but also blocks one end up, giving the other batsmen a chance to score.
A Rahane (3/10): scored 22 and 4 in the match and will be disappointed with himself after a brilliant batting performance at the MCG. However, he did captain his side very well again after suffering the loss of another bowler in the second innings.
H Vihari (7/10): was run out on 4 in the first innings but played a brilliant knock that helped save the game for Indian in the second innings. Vihari played with a hamstring injury in the second innings scoring 23 of 161 balls.
R Pant (7/10): dropped important catches but made up for it with the bat. He scored 36 and 97 and did it in fast time. His attacking knock in the second innings put Australia on the back foot as it looked like India were going to go for the win with Pant in an attacking mode. He will be kicking himself for not getting to a 100 and helping India get closer to the total.
Indian Bowlers
R Ashwin (7/10): picked up no wickets in the first innings and only 2 in the second innings. However, it was his batting that did the trick as he made 10 and 39. His second innings knock came off 128 balls and it showed great character as he took quite a few blows but still hung in there.
R Jadeja (6/10): bowled really well in the first innings and took 4 wickets. He made 28 runs in the first innings which were very important. However, a finger injury put him out of action in the second innings and possibly the next match as well.
N Saini (3/10): made his debut and took 2 wickets in the first innings and 2 in the second. His performance in the first innings wasn’t great as he went at 5 runs an over. He pulled it back in the second innings but was not very impressive.
J Bumrah (5/10): bowled a total of 47 overs in the both innings and could only take a total of 3 wickets. Bumrah will need to be at his best at the Gabba if India are going to win.
M Siraj (5/10): bowled a total of 50 overs in the game and took 3 wickets. His economy rate was a lot better than Saini and he will once again be required to bowl a lot of overs at the Gabba.
