INDIA V AUSTRALIA, THIRD TEST, DAY THREE
SCORE: India 109 and 163, Australia 197 and 1-78
SUMMARY: A chase of 76 would ordinarily have been easy, however the pitch spinning and bouncing sharply meant Australia began day three with some apprehension. A wicket on the second ball of the innings solely added to the stress, however Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne batted good and sensibly to snuff out any outdoors likelihood India had of defending the rating.
MAN OF THE MOMENT: Head was dropped for the primary Test in Nagpur because of his poor file on earlier excursions in Asia. But with veteran opener David Warner out with a damaged elbow, Head has grabbed his likelihood on the prime of the order. Head smashed an unbeaten 49, hitting a number of fast boundaries to ease any pressure within the Australian dressing room.
KEY MOMENT: Ravichandran Ashwin is among the all-time nice bowlers, however the star Indian spinner had a morning to neglect. After taking the primary wicket of Usman Khawaja, Ashwin appeared set for extra heroics. But Ashwin turned aggrieved by the state of the ball, complaining a number of instances to the umpires. The 36-year-old bowled in uncharacteristically poor vogue after the incident as Australia cruised to victory.
STAT OF THE DAY: Steve Smith is the primary Australian captain to win Test matches in India on a number of excursions.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We screwed up, I suppose, in Delhi is one way to put it. We had an opportunity there and let that slip, but we had a good break and a good preparation coming here” – Smith on how Australia bounced again from horror defeats in Nagpur and Delhi.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
