Australia trail by 16 runs with seven wickets in hand at the end of the fourth day’s play in the third Test, at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium. After Murali Vijay (153) and Shikhar Dhawan (187) gave India an upper hand, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc led the Australian fight back by bowling India out for 499, after ending the opening stand for 289. However, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed early wickets to keep India in the hunt.
The Indian pacer claimed David Warner and Ed Cowan to leave the visitors on 35 two. Clobbered for 12 runs by Phillip Hughes after getting Warner to edge the ball to MS Dhoni, Kumar changed ends and made amends. He returned to trap Cowan lbw in his second spell and troubled the batters, before knocking back Steven Smith’s off-stump. While wickets fell at one end Hughes remained unbeaten for 53 with night watchman Nathan Lyon (4*).
Earlier, Dhawan’s dream debut innings ended 13 runs short of a double-ton. The left-hand bat added just two to his overnight total, before hitting Lyon straight to Cowan at silly point. Shortly after that, Cheteshwar Pujara was given leg-before. But then, master batsman Sachin Tendulkar joined Vijay and the duo went about the task of inching towards the Australian total and garnered runs effortlessly, although at a slower pace than earlier in the innings. Vijay brought up his second consecutive century, his third in the longest format of the game and against Australia, with a boundary off Lyon. The partnership was taking solid shape and was worth 92 when Smith dismissed Tendulkar to give his team a major breakthrough. India were 24 runs short of the Australian first innings at total, while Vijay was eight short of the 150-run mark at the stroke of lunch.
The opener went past the 150-run mark for the second time in succession and helped India surpass 408 with yet another boundary. However, Starc halted his innings by trapping him lbw off the first delivery with the new ball. MS Dhoni, who replaced him, got off the mark with a four through mid-off, but Starc claimed him lbw with an in-swinger a ball later. After claiming the two key wickets in an over with the new ball, Australia made further dents into the Indian line-up with it. Taking cue from Starc, Siddle removed Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin off consecutive overs to leave the home team on 431 for seven. Virat Kohli, then, anchored the innings while witnessing a mini-collapse at the other end. The middle-order bat found an able ally in Kumar, and the duo extended the home team’s lead to 71 as Kohli brought up his half-century, before going in to tea.
However, Kumar walked back to the hut soon after resuming his innings in the final session. Siddle then removed Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha to finish with a five-for and left Kohli stranded on 67. Succumbing to an improved bowling performance by Michael Clarke’s side, the home team finished the innings with a 91-run lead.
Brief scores:
At the end of Day 4: India 1st innings 499 all out in 132.1 overs (S Dhawan 187, M Vijay 153, V Kohli 67*, P Siddle 5/71, M Starc 2/74); Australia 2nd innings 75/3 in 21 overs (P Hughes 53*, N Lyon 4*, B Kumar 3/25)
At the end of Day 3: Australia 1st innings 408 all-out in 141.5 overs (S Starc 99, S Smith 92, I Sharma 3/72, R Jadeja 3/77); India 1st innings 283/0 in 58 overs (S Dhawan 185*, M Vijay 83*)
At the end of Day 2: Australia 1st innings 273/7 in 104 overs (Ed Cowan 86, D Warner 71, S Smith 58*, M Starc 20*, R Jadeja 3/56, I Sharma 2/41)
At the end of Day 1: No play due to rain
