Australia claims dramatic final-hour victory against India in fourth test

Australia took seven wickets in the final session of the final day to claim a thrilling 184-run victory in front of a record test crowd yesterday in the fourth test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

With less than 40 minutes remaining in the match, Nathan Lyon trapped Mohammed Siraj lbw to bowl India out for 155 in its second innings and complete a remarkable match that had more than 370,000 people attend across the five days.

Australia now takes a 2-1 advantage ahead of the fifth and final test which is scheduled to start on Jan. 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where avoiding a defeat will be enough to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years.

“It’s probably the best test match I’ve been involved in,” said man-of-the-match Cummins, who took 3-28 off 18 overs Monday for six wickets in the match, plus playing valuable innings of 49 and 41 at No.8. “I don’t know what the crowd was today, but it was huge.

“Overall, it was one of those great wins.”

Earlier, India had been 25 without loss when Pat Cummins produced a double-wicket maiden, dismissing Rohit Sharma (9) and K.L. Rahul (0).

India went to lunch at a shaky 33-3, losing the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli in the final over of the session when the star right-hander was caught at first slip for five off Mitchell Starc’s bowling.

Rishabh Pant (30 off 104 balls) and opener Yashavi Jaiswal added 88 runs for the fourth wicket. GREG BUCKLE, MELBOURNE, MDT/AP