Finance
At the end of a chaotic day two of play in the third Test at the Holkar Stadium on Thursday, Australia’s premier off-spinner Nathan Lyon took his second eight-wicket haul in Test cricket, bowling out India for 169 and putting Australia on the verge of victory.
On a difficult pitch, India’s top-order batter Cheteshwar Pujara stood tall with a valiant 59 off 142 balls in the second innings, thanks to his precise footwork and judicious shot selection.
The rest of the batters, with the exception of Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin, were unable to step up, as Lyon finished with 8/64 and set Australia a target of 76 to win the series 2-1 on day three.
Australia took an 88-run lead in the morning as Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin took 3/12 and 3/44 respectively in the first session to bowl out the visitors for 197.
While Umesh was effective with his reverse swing display and reached 100 Test wickets at home, Ashwin was able to extract turn and use it in conjunction with flight to cause an Australian batting meltdown, as they lost their last six wickets for just 11 runs in 28 balls in a stunning batting meltdown.
Australia dominated the first hour of the morning session, as India failed to make any breakthroughs in 16 overs. Ravindra Jadeja found some turn after resuming from 156/4, but it wasn’t enough to threaten Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green.
Green hit the first boundary of the day against Mohammed Siraj, then danced down the pitch with a straight bat to take another four off Jadeja. Handscomb was compact in defence, but when trying to defend off Ashwin, the ball spun in sharply and took the inner edge to forward short leg.
Green was the next to go, caught lbw in front of the stumps by Umesh. Umesh produced a gem from around the wicket to beat Mitchell Starc’s outside edge and send his off-stump on a cartwheel ride.
Ashwin struck again when he had Alex Carey playing down the wrong line and was thoroughly beaten on the inside edge, lbw. After Umesh sent Todd Murphy’s off-stump for a walk, Ashwin completed the innings as Lyon attempted to sweep but missed the ball, leaving his stumps in disarray, completing an Australian batting meltdown.
Lyon drew first blood after going wicketless for the first 4.5 overs, as Shubman Gill danced down the pitch for an expansive slog. However, the right-handed opener missed the delivery as it turned to go through the gate and smash the stumps.
Pujara took his time getting going, but he eventually got his first boundary by driving an overpitched delivery from Lyon through cover. But in his next over, the off-spinner struck again, trapping Rohit Sharma right in the crease for lbw, with the Indian captain also burning a review.
With Australia’s spinners rotating, Pujara and Virat Kohli tried to keep them at bay with defense and boundaries. But, while Kohli was shaping for a pull, Matthew Kuhnemann took him out with a short ball that stayed low and hit him right on the back pad in front of stumps.
Pujara was able to breeze through with a lower backlift and staying low, smashing a short ball from Kuhnemann in the gap between mid-on and mid-wicket for a boundary, followed by dancing down the pitch to drive past non-striker for another boundary.
But before Ravindra Jadeja could get going, Lyon trapped him lbw below the knee roll and Australia saw his back through a review. When tea arrived, Pujara and Shreyas Iyer made sure India didn’t lose any more wickets.
Pujara and Iyer started the final session with a four and a six off an errant Kuhnemann. Iyer, who lowered his stance, got back-to-back fours from Lyon on fortunate outside edges.
Iyer’s aggression paid off when he knocked off Kuhnemann for four and six. But his innings was cut short at 26 when Usman Khawaja took a one-handed stunning catch off Starc at midwicket.
Lyon had more success when KS Bharat took the wrong line and was caught lbw. Pujara was dropped by Marnus Labuschagne after reaching fifty, but he found some support from Ashwin.
But that was short-lived as Lyon lbw Ashwin with a faster delivery. Pujara advanced and demonstrated aggression by whacking Lyon over mid-wicket for six. His knock was cut short by a stunner from Steve Smith, who dived to his right to take a one-handed screamer off Lyon’s leg-slip.
Lyon added another wicket two balls later when Umesh slog-swept straight to deep midwicket. Lyon finished the Indian innings by stumping Siraj four overs later.
Brief Scores: Australia 197 in 76.3 overs (Usman Khawaja 60, Marnus Labuschagne 21; Ravindra Jadeja 4/78, Umesh Yadav 3/12) trail India 109 in 33.3 overs and 163 in 60.3 overs (Cheteshwar Pujara 59, Shreyas Iyer 26; Nathan Lyon 8/64) by 76 runs
Source:OCN
