Australia crush India by nine wickets, qualify for WTC final

Indore: Travis Head scored an unbeaten 49 and dominated India’s spin attack to spearhead Australia’s run chase in an emphatic nine-wicket win in the third cricket test on Friday.

India won the first two tests and was aiming to secure its spot in the World Test Championship final with a third consecutive win in the four-match series.

But Australia dominated from the start at Indore after dismissing the home team for 109 after Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat, and then posted 197 for an 88-run first-innings lead.

Veteran spinner Nathan Lyon took eight wickets to bowl India out for 163 in the second innings on Day 2 and



give Australia a target of 76 runs with three days to play.

Head and Marnus Labuschagne (28) steered Australia to 78-1 in 18.5 overs after Usman Khawaja, who scored a gritty 60 in the first innings, was dismissed on the second delivery of the day.

Head endured a difficult start, finding it difficult to score against Ravichandran Ashwin early, but accelerated his scoring rate and swung the momentum of the innings to finish unbeaten on 49 off 53 balls. 

Labuschagne finished 28 not out off 58 balls, hitting the winning runs with a boundary to long-on against Ashwin’s bowling.