India's implosion in Melbourne: Rishabh Pant's dismissal sparks collapse leading to defeat from jaws of draw

Pant's dismissal came as a letdown after a gritty and patient performance with the bat. Unfortunately, a brief loss of focus led him to take on Head and ultimately fall into the waiting hands of Mitchell Marsh at long-on, who took a solid catch to end Pant's innings.

This follows from Pant’s strange dismissal in the first innings, which saw him getting heavily criticised by Sunil Gavaskar. The former India captain deemed Pant's shot ‘stupid, stupid stupid’ after he got out in the first innings. Pant now heads into the SCG Test with no half-centuries so far in the series.

Pant wicket leads to big collapse

While Pant had batted securely and well through the afternoon session, the tea break seemed to open up some cracks, as he played and missed at Nathan Lyon multiple times before trying to relieve some pressure against the part-time spin of Head. Pant might be more disappointed with his execution of the shot, finding long on with a lofted shot, rather than the decision, with the delivery having been a rank and hittable long-hop.

Pant’s wicket opened a window for the host team, who did excellently to use the open end and pry out a couple of more wickets. Ravindra Jadeja nicked off to Scott Boland, while first innings centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy failed on this occasion for just one run this time out. India went from 121-3 and looking set for a draw to a mini-collapse that found them at 130-6, and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s departure finding them at 140-7.

In the end, Australia did not waste the opportunity, and the final wicket of Mohammed Siraj was scalped by Nathan Lyon. Australia have now gained a 2-1 lead in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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