At stumps, India was 248 for six at Dharamsala as they are trailing by 52 runs after Australia posted 300 in their first innings as Wriddhiman Saha remained not out on 10 off 43 balls and Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten on 16 off 23 balls after India was teetering at 221 for six.
As the game has progressed so far, the battle between the bat and a ball has witnessed equal contest at the picturesque ground in the Himalayas.
On a fascinating day, Australia made a strong comeback back at the fag end of the day after going down in the first two sessions of Day two of the fourth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar series. However, the bowlers dry up the runs with disciplined bowling in the first two sessions of the day.
At stumps on day two, in the 88 over, Matt Renshaw put down a regulation catch, in the first slip of Wriddhiman Saha whe he was batting on 9.
Off-spinner Nathan Lyon put Australia right into the game in the third session when he bagged four wickets.
However, the fast bowler Pat Cummins had peppered the Indian batsmen with short balls which further saw the hosts’ batsmen shouldering their arms and playing it according to the merit on the field which is lighting quick as they further showed the patient approach throughout the day.
Hoping against hope, Australia lost their three reviews in the span of 15 minutes during the final session of the play.
Ravichandran Ashwin scored hard-fought 30 off 49 balls before being trapped in front of the stumps by Nathan Lyon as the decision was upheld when replays suggest the ball was hitting the stumps.
Karun Nair was dismissed on 5 off 16 balls when ballooned up in the air to find the gloves of Matthew Wade, who almost crashed with close-in fielder Peter Handscomb while completing the catch.
On the other side, the stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane had put on 46 off 104 balls before giving a simple catch to his counterpart Steven Smith on the bowling of Nathan Lyon.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who had been remarkable with the bat in Ranchi where he notched up double hundred, was again in business with the bat.
The 29-year-old right-handed batsman Pujara was removed while lunging forward to find the bat-pad when he was caught brilliantly by Peter Handscomb at short leg on the bowling of Nathan Lyon. Pujara scored 57 off 151 balls.
Pujara and KL Rahul put on 87 runs for the second wicket. Earlier, at tea India was going strong at 153 for 2 in 60 overs.
In the 41st over, KL Rahul had a good start again with the bat, but perished on the bowling of Pat Cummins when he tried to pull the short and wide ball delivery to find David Warner. Rahul was dismissed on 60 off 124 balls.
Starting with the overnight pair of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, India started off quite slow following the significant seam and bounce from Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to test the batsmen with its proving line.
However, in the 10th over of the morning session Murali Vijay was undone by Josh Hazlewood when the ball held its line to find the edge of the bat. Vijay was caught by wicket-keeper Matthew Wade on 11 off 36 balls.