IND vs AUS Boxing Day Test 2024: Virat Kohli’s Match Ban, and Young Konstas Approach against Bumrah

The most-awaited Boxing Day Test kicked off with Australia winning the toss and deciding to bat first. Both teams decided to make changes in their squads. Australia made two changes in their lineup Sam Konstas and Scott Boland in place of Nathan McSweeney and Josh Hazlewood respectively. On the other hand, India decided to go ahead with Washington Sundar in place of Shubman Gill, to avail an extra bowling option.

IND vs AUS Boxing Day Test 2024: Smith, Labuschangne, Khawaja, and Konstas Put Australia in the Driver’s Seat

Sam Konstas and Usman Khawaja started the proceedings carefully and then stitched a partnership of 89 runs for the 1st wicket. The debutant took on Jasprit Bumrah easily and was the dominant of the two. Konstas’s attempted unorthodox approach against the opposition’s best bowler surprised the entire cricketing fraternity. He could not have asked for a better debut than this.

Facing Bumrah, Konstas scored four 4s and two 6s against him and also broke Bumrah’s streak of 4483 Deliveries without conceding six in Test Cricket. Jadeja, who trapped him in front of the wicket at 60, brought his innings to an end.

Khawaja, who had been out of form for a long time, brought up his half-century after lunch and batted beautifully before returning to Bumrah for the fifth time in this series. And, was stopped after scoring 57 runs off 121 deliveries. Labuschagne also looked great and scored a magnificent 72 in 145 deliveries before getting out to Sundar. But the damage was already done as he and Smith stitched up a partnership of 83 runs for the third wicket.

Steve Smith also looked in track and brought up another half-century. India soon pulled things back after dismissing Marnus, Head, and Marsh in a gap of 9 runs, but later Smith and Alex Carey added 53 runs at a healthy rate. At the end of the day’s play, Australia is at 311 for 6.

IND vs AUS Boxing Day Test 2024: India’s Struggle with the Ball Continues

Once again, the pick of the bowlers for India was Jasprit Bumrah. Jasprit Bumrah started positively against the debutant Konstas. However, his plans failed as Konstas played some of the most audacious shots and made the management think. But as they say, greats find a way to get back into the game. By the end of the day, Bumrah picked up 3 wickets, bringing India back into the contest.

Both Sundar and Jadeja took 1 wicket each to their name. Akash Deep bowled his heart out and got the wicket of well-set Alex Carey to his name. He has been troubling the batsman from the start but with minimal success. Siraj looked off-color except in a few instances and had a bad day on the field as well.

And just, it has come to notice that Indian star batsman Virat Kohli has been fined 20% of his match fee and also given 1 demerit point for his behavior against Sam Konstas. But the 19-year-old youngster reacted maturely with the statement “Whatever happens in the field, it stays in the field”.

Overall, it was a toiling day for the Indian bowlers. The bowling unit will have to regroup, boost themselves up for the next day, and come up with a better plan. On the other hand, Australia would want to maximize the first-inning score and put India on the back foot. Now Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024 is at its peak, IND vs AUS 4th Test Day 2 awaits an exciting day of play and will keep fans glued to their TV sets or mobile phones.