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India all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy pulled off a sensational diving catch to stop Australian captain Pat Cummins short of a fifty. Notably, the Border Gavaskar Trophy sides are facing off each other in the fourth Test of the elite five-match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The second day of the game saw Steven Smith and Pat Cummins resuming their innings on 68 and 8, respectively. While Smith cruised towards a century, Cummins was forced to walk back a run short of his half century.
The Australian skipper’s knock came to an end in the 105th over off a Ravindra Jadeja delivery, after Nitish Kumar Reddy took a stunning catch at mid-off. The ODI World Cup 2023 winning captain tried to hit Jadeja for a big shot, but the band ended up turning in his hand and the ball flew towards the mid-off region. The Indian youngster, stationed at mid-off, ran to his left and dove to pull off a remarkable catch.
Australia in commanding position in Melbourne
After Cummins walked back, Steve Smith put on a good partnership with Mitchell Starc to put Australia on 454/7 at lunch on day 2. Smith recorded a century and played a knock of 140 runs. After lunch, things started to slip away from the Aussie batters as Indian bowlers dismissed Smith, Nathan Lyon and Starc to end the Kangaroos on 474. In return, India got off to an unexpected note, when skipper Rohit Sharma, who was back as an opener, was dismissed cheaply for 3 runs.
KL Rahul was next to depart on 24 off 42 deliveries, followed by Yashasvi Jaiswal on 82 off 118, and Virat Kohli on just 36 runs off 86 balls. Star fast bowler Akash Deep had to walk back without opening his account. The bowler was dismissed off a Scott Boland delivery, by a catch from Nathan Lyon.
