India suffered a crushing 184-run defeat in the fourth Test match against Australia on December 30, Monday, effectively ending their hopes of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. With this Australia have taken an unassailable 2-1 lead over India in the five-match series with a match to spare.
While Australia dominated for much of the match, Jasprit Bumrah's impressive show with the ball on Day 4 briefly gave India a glimmer of hope, but his efforts went in vain as India batters disappoint yet again barring Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Australia set a challenging target of 340 runs for Rohit Sharma's men on Day 5. India got off to a disastrous start as their hopes were quickly dashed after losing three early wickets which left them reeling at 33/3. The partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant revived their chances, but ultimately, the Australian bowlers proved too strong, securing a decisive victory.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's contentious dismissal sparks debate
Following Rishabh Pant's dismissal, Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his impressive innings and appeared poised to guide India through the end of the day's play. However, his innings was abruptly ended by a highly controversial decision in the 71st over.
Faced with a short delivery from Pat Cummins, Jaiswal attempted a pull shot. While the ball appeared to have nicked his gloves, umpire Joel Wilson remained unconvinced despite strong appeals from the Australian team.
Cummins immediately called for a review. TV replays, while showing a deflection, failed to produce a definitive spike on the Snicko, suggesting no clear contact with the bat or gloves. Surprisingly, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat overruled Wilson's original decision. Despite the lack of conclusive evidence on Snicko, the third umpire declared that the ball had indeed made contact with the gloves, instructing Wilson to reverse his decision. The contentious decision proved to be the turning point in the match and cost India's hopes of a comeback.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was clearly not out: BCCI VP Rajeev Shukla
The incident drew the ire of BCCI's vice president Rajeev Shukla who went on to lambast the third umpire for Jaiswal's controversial dismissal.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal was clearly not out. Third umpire should have taken note of what technology was suggesting. While over ruling field umpire third umpire should have solid reasons,” Rajeev Shukla wrote on X, previously known as Twitter.
Jaiswal's brave knock of 84 off 208 balls came to an end which left India in a precarious position of 140/7. India couldn't recover from there on, hence lost the match by 184 runs. India will look to level the series when they next meet Australia in the fifth and the last Test which is slated to start from January 3 in Sydney.
