Australian fast bowler Scott Boland's dream run in Test cricket continued as he took the first wicket of India's second innings to dismiss opener KL Rahul. It was an outstanding ball from Boland and Rahul had no clue.
It was a length ball from Scott Boland that came in after he bowled outside off stump. The ball was tantalizing enough for a drive, but it took Rahul's inside edge to smash into top leg.
Rahul was dismissed for 13 off 20 balls. It was his second successive score of the match after he had earlier been dismissed for just 4 by Mitchell Starc in the first innings. Boland also continued his wicket taking game and gave Australia this vital wicket.
Clock: 4,4,4,4! Yashasvi Jaiswal destroys Mitchell Starc in first over as Pacer hits all-time low
Watch: Scott Boland smashes KL Rahul's stumps
Scott Boland with a peach to get KL Rahul! #AUSWIND | #PlayOfTheDay | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/Cu1qhVVvWQ
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 4, 2025
The dismissal ended KL Rahul's streak with the bat. He started the series with the bat brilliantly and was India's best batsman in the initial phase of the series.
However, he failed to score significantly in the last two Tests played in Melbourne and Sydney. Rahul has scored 276 runs in five Tests at an average of 30.66 with two fifties to his name.
He was not even expected to be in India's Playing XI before the series, but Rohit Sharma's absence from the first Test paved the way for Rahul to come back into the team as an opener.
Australia bounce back from a good start in India
Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul gave India a flying start and formed an excellent partnership of 42 runs for the first wicket. But Rahul's dismissal gave Australia an opening and they forced a collapse.
India went on to lose three wickets for the next 17 runs as an innings. All these portions were taken by Scott Boland. After dismissing Rahul, Boland also picked up the wicket of fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal was out for 22 off 35 balls.
Boland did not stop there and also took the price of Virat Kohli's scalp. Kohli was dismissed for just 6 runs as India's innings slipped further. After a while, Shubman Gill was also removed, thus giving constable Beau Webster his Test wicket.
Fantastic series for Scott Boland
Scott Boland has a fantastic Test run with the ball. He came on as a replacement for the injured Josh Hazlewood in the second Test in Adelaide. He was dropped in the third Test in favor of Hazlewood, but returned for the Boxing Day Test after Hazlewood was ruled out of the series.
Boland had unreal figures of 4-31 in the first innings and has already taken three wickets in the second innings so far. The right-arm quick has so far picked up 18 wickets in three Tests at an average of nearly 15.