New Delhi: Nathon Lyon picked eight wickets to dismantle the Indian batting line-up for 163 as Australia is up to chase 76. Cheteshwar Pujara played a trademark Pujara knock and was the lone fighter with his fifty. The pitch continued the uneven bounce and dismissed batters with the ball bouncing a bit more or just keeping low.
Australian bowlers were disciplined and used good length to pick wickets. Bowling at good length was the difference between the Australian and Indian bowlers in the game.
It was Nathan Lyon’s day while Mitchell Stac and Matthew Kuhnemann also picked a wicket each. Lyon dismissed Shubman Gill to have his first one in the inning as Gill went down the track and got bowled. It was followed by a straight delivery picking up Rohit Sharma.
Virat Kohli, who looked comfortable like in his first inning, was dismissed by Kuhnemann on 13 after the delivery kept low and hit onto his pads. It was after Kohli’s wicket that Pujara decided to attack a bit and managed a few boundaries in his partnership with Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer.
While Pujara played a long inning, it was Shreyas Iyer who tried to change the momentum with his attack after the Tea. He played a cameo inning of 26 off 27, hitting three fours and two sixes. Iyer is an excellent player of spin and he showed it today with his counter-attack before Starc picked him up as Khawaja took a diving catch.
After Iyer’s dismissal, KS Bharat was bowled by Lyon soon after. Bharat looked well in the first inning, but things have gone downhill for him since then, dropping a couple of catches and getting out for 3(8) will be the things he would love to forget.
Ravichandran Ashwin stood and built a small partnership with Pujara. He scored 16 off 28 before Lyon got him to complete his fifer. Before departing for 59 off 142, Pujara also hit a six against Nathon Lyon, which will be one of the highlighted moments of the Indore Test. The batter flicked the ball and Smith took a stunner in the leg slip to dismiss him, followed by Umesh Yadav handing a catch to Green on mid-wicket.
Axar Patel, like always, stood not out at 15 and contributed with the tail.
The day began with a resilient partnership between Peter Handscomb and Cameroon Green. The 40-run partnership was broken by Ashwin as Iyer took a brilliant catch at short leg to dismiss Handscomb. Three wickets each from Ashwin and Umesh Yadav wrapped up Australia for 197 with an 88-run lead.
