India put an end to their frustrations on day 3 of the second test against Australia on a good note as the stumps were drawn when the visitors were at 71-1, still trail the hosts by 25 runs. After bundling out the Aussie tail for 505, India managed to negate 71 runs from the deficit of 97 runs from the first innings.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is under a lot of criticisms after failing consistently in test matches is batting on 23 from 65 balls and giving company to the left hander is Cheteshwar Pujara who ended the day on 15 off 35. Centurion from the first innings Murali Vijay was the only casualty of this session as he was caught double-minded whether to leave the ball or to defend it and ended up in dragging it to the stumps. Mitchell Starc took the wicket of Vijay in the session.
Earlier in the day, the Aussies resuming from 221-4 from day 2, lost the wickets of Mitchell Marsh and Brad Haddin in the first hour of the play with the scorecard reading 247-6. It was set for an Indian victory at the Gabba before skipper Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson decided to take on the Indian bowlers. India’s short pitched bowled back-fired miserably as the duo frustrated the Indian bowlers as they stitched together a 148 run partnership for the seventh wicket before both were dismissed in a single Ishant Sharma over. Steve Smith scored his sixth Test century, his second in two matches and Mitchell got out to a stroke-filled 88.
Mitchell Starc continued from where Johnson and left and stretched Australia’s lead to over 50 and eventually the Aussies were dismissed for 505. All of India’s frontline bowlers went over 100 runs with Umesh Yadav being the best among them with a spell of 3-101.
Scorecard:
India (Ist Innings): 408 (Murali Vijay 144, Ajinkya Rahane 81, Josh Hazlewood 5-68).
Australia (Ist Innings): 505 (Steve Smith 133, Mitchell Johnson 88, Umesh Yadav 3-101).
Indian Innings (2nd Innings trial by 97 runs):
|
Batsmen |
Mode of Dismissal |
Runs |
Balls |
4s |
6s |
|
M Vijay |
b Starc |
27 |
39 |
4 |
0 |
|
S Dhawan |
not out |
26 |
65 |
2 |
0 |
|
CA Pujara |
not out |
15 |
35 |
2 |
0 |
|
Extras |
(lb 2, nb 1) |
3 |
|
|
|
|
Total |
23 overs |
71-1 |
Australia Bowling (2nd Innings):
|
Bowlers |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wickets |
Economy |
|
Mitchell Johnson |
8 |
3 |
29 |
0 |
3.62 |
|
Josh Hazlewood |
6 |
0 |
24 |
0 |
4.00 |
|
Mitchell Starc |
4 |
1 |
10 |
1 |
2.50 |
|
Shane Watson |
5 |
3 |
6 |
0 |
1.20 |
Verdict: Going into the fourth day, the match is evenly poised with all the three results possible. If India manages to score 370 on day 4, they hold the upper hand going into the final day on Sunday. So, an exciting fourth day is at stake tomorrow.
Scorecard to follow…..
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