Mitchell Starc’s fielding brilliance, KL Rahul’s toughness and Mitch Marsh’s sticky hands
Australia tightened their stranglehold over Virat Kohli – and Mitchell Starc deserved an assist on his scalp on Monday. ROBERT CRADDOCK’s five big moments inside.
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The third day of the Gabba Test was when Brisbane’s inclement weather caused as many – and perhaps even more – frustrations as India’s batsmen.
But still there were some stunning moments – from Australia’s stars in particular.
Here are Robert Craddock’s five moments that defined play on Monday at the Gabba.
GLUE IN THE GULLY
Filling the shoes of Cameron “The Claw’’ Green in the gully is no easy assignment.
Mitch Marsh has had good days and bad over the years in the Australian cordon but even Green would have been proud to pocket Marsh’s spectacular catch off an airy Shubman Gill drive.
Both of Marsh’s feet were at least 30cms off the ground at the point he took the catch diving spectacularly to his left.
SCARY CAREY
Alex Carey has been in ultra-smooth batting form all season.
Australia’s dominant position allowed him to play with great freedom as evidenced by his bold move down the wicket to paceman Akash Deep whom he clubbed spectacularly over cover for six, one of the shots of the match.
TOUGH COOKIE
KL Rahul does not have the greatest Test record – but he’s tough.
Gabba fans were most impressed when he recovered from a numbing crack on the wrist from Josh Hazlewood to post a fighting 30 not out. Several other Indian batsmen looked rattled and loose. Rahul, as he did in the first Test, stayed calm and won Australia’s respect.
A VERY FINE LEG
Mitchell Starc was on song with the ball and that electricity flowed through to his fielding efforts.
KL Rahul surely would have expected his pivoting pull shot to reach the rope but Starc flew around the fine leg fence, dived and restricted it to one.
Virat Kohli edged the next ball behind and several fieldsmen raced towards Starc as if he had taken the wicket.
WIDER THAN WIDE
It’s a rare occasion when a Test bowler’s radar scrambles so badly that he misses the pitch.
But Akash Deep took us back to the Under-13b’s when he bowled an outrageous wide to Alex Carey which missed the cut surface.
Rishabh Pant knocked it down but the batsmen ran an extra.
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Originally published as Mitchell Starc’s fielding brilliance, KL Rahul’s toughness and Mitch Marsh’s sticky hands