Rishabh Pant's carnage leads Australia-India Sydney Test to cliffhanger

The second day's play ended in a cliffhanger as India were leading Australia by 145 runs after the tourists finished at 141-6 at stumps with two allrounders - Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar - walking back with a task to accomplish the next morning at SCG in Sydney.

When India were struggling at 59-3 after Virat Kohli lost his wicket again by exploring an off-stump ball, Pant walked out in the middle with a clear agenda of counter-attack.

The southpaw, who was heavily criticised by cricket experts for allegedly throwing his wicket at crucial stages in this series, toyed with the mighty Aussie bowling slamming a quickfire 61 from 33 balls before he was caught behind in Pat Cummins' delivery.

Pant slammed six fours and four sixes across the packed SCG to extend India's first innings lead to beyond 100 on a wicket which seemed a reward for the pace bowlers.

Praising Pant, who slammed the second fastest Test fifty by an Indian, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar wrote on X, "On a wicket where majority of the batters have batted at a SR of 50 or less, @RishabhPant17's knock with a SR of 184 is truly remarkable. He has rattled Australia from ball one. It is always entertaining to watch him bat. What an impactful innings!"

India's flying start to the second innings was curtailed by Scott Boland, who picked another four-fer in the match.

Boland corrected India's free-flow of runs first by dismissing KL Rahul for 13 and then his opening mate Yashasvi Jaiswal for 22 from 35 balls. 

Kohli was dismissed fishing in an off-stump ball for the eighth time in the series, which is led by Australia now 2-1. The veteran was seemingly angry with himself after he was removed by Boland for just six.

Shubman Gill, who showcased his fine technique and displayed classic boundaries, charged down the pitch to edge debutant Beau Webster's ball for a catch behind the stumps amid the absolute carnage which was on from the other end by Pant.

Riding on the pace bowling unit, India bowled out Australia for only 181 to secure a thin lead of four runs in the first innings of the fifth and final Test on Saturday morning.

After India captain and pace bowling sensation Jasprit Bumrah left the field over injury scare, Prasidh Krishna (3/42), Mohammed Siraj (3/51) and Nitish Reddy (2/32) took over the duty to dismiss the hosts within the tourists' score of 185.

Webster scripted his dream debut scoring a hard-earned 57 from 105 balls, recovering Australia from 39-4 in an alliance with veteran Steve Smith, who was dismissed in the slip cordon by Krishna just before lunch for a solid 33.

Bumrah, who picked Usman Khawaja on the last delivery of day one, removed Marnus Labuschagne early on day two.

Young batter Sam Konstas, who resumed his attack after seeing off some balls patiently, was caught in the slip cordon by KL Rahul bowled by Siraj for 23 from 38 balls.

Siraj drew more blood by dismissing in-form Travis Head [four runs] in the same over hurting Australia badly.