The Indian fast bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed the Australian skipper Aaron Finch for the third successive time in the three-match series on Friday to put Australia on the back foot early after the Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in the series decider game. But the dismissal was preceded by some interesting tactics from the Indians as Bhuvi attempted something new against the Aussie skipper.
Earlier, Bhuvneshwar had dismissed the deputy skipper Alex Carey in the third over, getting him caught behind to Virat Kohli at second slip for 5. However, for finch, he bowled a delivery from behind the stumps in the 9th over, which it seems was suggested to him by none other than MS Dhoni as he was seen talking to the fast bowler just before the incident.
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In the fifth ball of the ninth over, Bhuvneshwar ran in and got into his delivery stride beside the umpire and released the ball almost a yard before the usual landing crease, which put Finch off and he backed out. The umpire had no choice but to call it a dead ball.
Here is the video of the same:
This one was called a dead ball… #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/8V7ElRzZd9
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 18, 2019
Bhuvneshwar wasn’t visibly upset with the call but he got his revenge the very next ball as he brought one back in sharply which kept a little low, Finch tried to defend but got struck on the pad in front of the stumps.
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He consulted with his batting partner Usman Khawaja at the other end whether he should take the DRS or not and eventually decided not to opt for it which was the right call as the replays showed that that ball would have gone on to clip the leg stump.
Here is the video of the dismissal:
This one was called lbw… #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Kno6FrQvm6
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 18, 2019
At the time of Finch’s dismissal, Australia’s score was 27/2 in 9 overs with Usman Khawaja batting on 7. Shaun Marsh joined him in the middle after the captain’s departure.
