Key events
How’s this for a stat:
25th over: India 69-3 (Pujara 33, Jadeja 2) That’s a good shot from Pujara as he leans back and hammers a pull in front of square for four. The difference between this one and the one that got Kohli is that Pujara looked to play it much straighter and therefore presented more of the blade. He leans back again to some width outside the off stump but there’s a man sweeping on the cover fence. Jadeja chips a single to long on before Pujara uses his feet and smears a boundary back past Kuhnemann with a swish of his wrists. Quality batting.
24th over: India 59-3 (Pujara 24, Jadeja 1) Lyon is back after a few overs. Five runs come from this one with Jadeja getting off the mark with a nudge off the inside of his bat towards midwicket and Pujara takes a single and three more with a cut off the back foot. Lyon might need an over or two to find his range again.
23rd over: India 54-3 (Pujara 20, Jadeja 0) A hush descends over the ground as another big wicket falls. Kuhnemann’s flighted ball at the start of the over turned and bounced and caught Kohli on the thumb. He needed the attention of the team physio but dusted himself off to hammer a well timed back foot cover drive for four. Poor shot selection did him in the end. It really was an ugly stroke. It’s as if he hasn’t been paying attention all game.
WICKET! Kohli lbw Kuhnemann 13 (India 54-3)
Oh Virat, what have you done? He’s gone back to a ball that’s kept a touch low and he’s paid the price. How many times has that happened this Test? He was perhaps emboldened to play that shot as he’d just crunched a boundary off the back foot through the covers but this one’s straighter and squeezes past his angled blade in his attempt to work it through midwicket. He doesn’t hang around to review it. He knows that’s stone dead.
22nd over: India 50-2 (Pujara 20, Kohli 9) Kohli press a single into the covers to bring uo the 50 Murphy is quick and flat through the air. More of a holding style than an outright attacker. Pujara is happy to play it late it’s five dots in a row to see out the over.
21st over: India 49-2 (Pujara 20, Kohli 8). Tidy from Kuhnemann. Better line too as he;s around the fourth stump, rather than too straight. Pujara wasn’t entirely comfortable there. Kohli kicked off the over with a single down to long off.
20th over: India 48-2 (Pujara 20, Kohli 7) Muprhy continues after a drinks break. Pujara flicks him behind square and takes a couple before coming out his crease to take a single in front of square. Nice flicky hands through the ball from India’s No. 3. Kohli will keep the strike with a single down to long on. Murphy just a touch to straight to both batters.
Now that we’ve started the (very premature) Cam Green vs Ben Stokes debate, here’s Rob Wolf Petersen offering his views:
“Bit generous to compare Cam Green and Ben Stokes based purely on numbers! When Green’s played match-defining innings in two World Cup finals and reinvented Australian cricket as skipper, there might be a case to make!”
I’m with you Rob. Long way to go for the young Aussie, talented though he may be.
19th over: India 44-2 (Pujara 17, Kohli 6) Bowling change. Kuhnemann replaces Lyon, perhaps to orchestrate a change of ends for the primary spinner. Perhaps now. Two slips and no catchers in front of the wicket for Pujara and he works the first ball of the over to short fine leg for a single. Kuhnemann drops one slightly short to Kohli who looks to cut but ends up looping a strange shot over the slips and it goes for four. That looked odd. Kohli clearly trying to exert himself. Two singles – one for Kohli down the ground and another to Pujara square on the leg side – means that’s seven from that set.
18th over: India 37-2 (Pujara 15, Kohli 1) Good from Murphy. Lovely shape with just enough flight to keep Kohli guessing. A half tracker encourages Kohli to rock back and try and whack it but it keeps low. If that was any straighter he’d have been skittled. He survives but it’s another maiden. Momentum definitely with the Aussies now as India still trail by 51.
17th over: India 37-2 (Pujara 16, Kohli 1) Pujara whips a short (but not that short) ball off his hips behind square for four. That’s what Sharma was trying to do. Australia have a packed leg side for Pujara as they look to keep him on strike and build pressure with Lyon bowling as close to middle and leg as possible. Lyon switches to over the wicket and Pujara whips it again, this time straight to Handscombe at short leg. If he caught they’d have built a statue of him in Melbourne.
16th over: India 33-2 (Pujara 11, Kohli 1) Muprhy continues and is targeting a fifth stump line to Kohli who is looking to whip it past mid-on. Murphy has Kohli out three times in as many Tests. What a remarkable stat to start your career. Maiden over this time.
Damian [no last name given] has been in touch: “Bit harsh of Gervase Greene on Cam Green. Ben Stokes only averages 35 and Cam Green has a better bowling average than him.”
Can’t argue with the numbers, I suppose.
15th over: India 33-2 (Pujara 11, Kohli 1) Nathan Lyon is such a great bowler. I know you all know that but it’s worth repeating. And when you’ve got such a slick operator like that, you’re just as capable as any sub continent team in these conditions. He’s knocked off both openers. That’s the eighth time he’s got Sharma in 10 Tests. Three from that over as Kohli gets off the mark with an on drive from his first ball.
WICKET! Sharma lbw Lyon 12 (India 32-2)
Well, well, well. My first contribution to the OBO this morning is to call a wicket! It’s Lyon’s moment, though as he gets one to skid on from a tricky length. Sharma goes back when perhaps a forward press would have been the better option, but it’s about the length and the skid. Lovely bowling from round the wicket and it crashes into the pads plumb in front. A hopeful review doesn’t save him. Kolhi time.
14th over: India 30-1 (Sharma 11, Pujara 10) Machine Gun Murphy into the attack to replace Matt Kuhnemann. He starts around the wicket to Pujara and skips in fast and fierce with that rapid right arm whipping it down at 89kph. Pujara dots the first three. The fourth is quicker again (93kph) and zeroed in on Pujara’s leg pad but the wily old Wall digs it out. The last catches an edge but flies wide of backward square. Great first over from the youngster and a good note for me to handover to blog brother Daniel Gallan coming in off the long run-up. Thanks for being with me and enjoy the remains of the day!
13th over: India 30-1 (Sharma 11, Pujara 10) Huge appeal here! Lyon reckons he’s ripped one past Pujara and caught the edge but replays show the movement he saw was the natural variation of spin not the human fallibility of snick. Lyon tosses the fourth ball up but too far and too wide and Pujara pounces, hot-stepping to the pitch and pounding through covers for four. Lovely shot! And he takes a single from the last too.
12th over: India 25-1 (Sharma 11, Pujara 5) Kuhnemann comes again. He’s not finding much term but his action is clean and his accuracy is unerring. He’s testing both batters with every ball. Finally Pujara snaps and steps back to flay him over cover but only for a single. The stroke wasn’t dissimilar to the action that undid Pujara in the first dig so Australia will be encouraged .
11th over: India 24-1 (Sharma 11, Pujara 4) Mitchell Starc has returned to the field after treatment on his finger but Usman Khawaja is in the grandstand for some reason, so perhaps Lance Morris or Scott Boland is out there on his behalf? If Lyon keeops tossing up easy singles like the two he’s gifted to Pujara and Sharma so far we may find either substitute in the outfield before too long. Lyon finds his line late to keep it to two runs from the over. India trail by 64 runs.
10th over: India 22-1 (Sharma 9, Pujara 3) Kuhnemann leaks a run to Rohit Sharma, just his fifth from five overs. Pujara steps back to cut away to third man and pick up two.
9th over: India 19-1 (Sharma 9, Pujara 1) Virat Kohli is padded up and ready as next-man-in. The King is 39 innings without a century but he’s been a smidge unlucky of late and doesn’t look out of form. Is today his day? It’d be a famous century in conditions like this where every run is an ingot of gold extracted with hard toil from this dusty crater of a strip. Rohit takes a single to give us out first run in 11 balls and Pujara dabs back the last. He has one run from 17 deliveries.
8th over: India 18-1 (Sharma 8, Pujara 1) Middle and leg, middle and leg. Kuhnemann is nagging away and Pujara is fretful, pushing left and right and middling nothing. Captain Smith has two slips and a fielder at short leg breathing down the batter’s neck but Pujara survives to see out a maiden.
7th over: India 18-1 (Sharma 8, Pujara 1) India trail by 70 runs but they’re under siege from Australia’s spinners on a wicket packing plenty of wallop. Pujara clips Lyon’s last ball to fine leg to get off the mark.
6th over: India 16-1 (Sharma 6, Pujara 0) Kuhnemann is back and after Rohit Sharma scoots a single it’ll be Cheteshwar Pujara to face his first deliveries. The Brisbane-born leggie bowled a beautifully accurate spell before lunch, landing it on a penny and extracting bounce and turn to sow doubt in the batter’s mind. Pujara has 19 Test centuries to his name but he hasn’t been at ease all series.
WICKET! Gill b. Lyon 5 (India 15-1)
Lyon strikes! Gill marched down to the final ball of the over and had a big heave at it across the line but the ball was shorter and slower and Lyon found some rip and skid from this pitch and so the ball scooted through to rattle the furniture. Great start for Australia!
5th over: India 13-0 (Sharma 5, Gill 4) And we’re back and it will be Nathan Lyon to Shubman Gill who works his third ball away for a single. Mitchell Starc is OFF the ground. Word is his injured finger was badly bleeding going to Lunch and so he’s receiving attention while the replacement Mitchell (Swepson) does his duties in the field. That’d be a big blow for the baggy greeners. But maybe the spinners are all they need?
Welcome back to the Lunch session of this Third Test in Indore. It’s a crucial couple of hours for both sides. Can Australia protect their lead with tight bowling and extend their advantage with wickets? Or will India patiently whittle down this chase and then build an unsurpassable lead of their own?
The pundits are saying if India get 100 ahead Australia will have bowled poorly and will be facing almost certain doom bating last on this Tina turner of a pitch. We’re minutes away from play here but time enough to ponder this email sent by Gervase Greene from the Peoples’ Republic of Clovelly…
“I know he’s only 23 or 24. I know he has the ‘buy one, get one free’ appeal of all-rounders the world over, and I especially know India is India, and this pitch is exceptionally awkward. (And this dismissal was conventional. He simply missed it). BUT… after 19 or 20 Tests, Cameron Green has not scored a century, despite often appearing set. And he averages just 35-odd, with a strike rate not much better. Obviously his potential looms massive, but at some point he needs to start delivering.”
LUNCH: India 13-0 (Sharma 5, Gill 4). Australia lead by 75 runs.
And that’s Lunch in another frenzied session of Test cricket!
After Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green put together a patient partnership of 40 runs, Ravi Ashwin (3 for 44) and his mesmeric spin took Australia apart again, with exuberant assistance from paceman Umesh Yadav (3 for 12)… and this devilish Indore pitch.
In 34 crazy balls Australia frittered away their last six batters for just 11 runs. Still, they lead by 75 and early signs in the second innings are that batting will not be easy for India. Can Matt Kuhnemann claim another five-for? Will the GOAT get amongst the wickets? Or is it time for Mitchell Starc to give India a shake-up?
The answers are a hot half-hour away. Oil your neck, fill your belly and we’ll be back with the second session very soon.
4th over: India 13-0 (Sharma 5, Gill 4) Big rip from Kuhnemann! It pitched on leg and jagged past the Indian skipper to land in Carey’s gloves way outside off. Promising signs for the left-armer already. He’s a calm character and Australia will need his nerve if they’re to skittle what seems like a more patient India. As Kuhnemann rips another past Sharma’s outside edge there’s weird review for a stumping. But the foot is grounded and Australia go to Lunch on a dud note.
3rd over: India 11-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 2) India trail by 79 runs as Starc strays to leg again and is worked backward of square for a run by the 23-year-old Punjabi batter Gill. Sharm inside edges Starc for another one to keep things ticking over. Starc keeps looking forlornly at his finger but his dander should be up after seeing the carnage Umesh Yadav unleashed with a good spell of fast bowling. India take another single from the last.
2nd over: India 9-0 (Rohit 3, Gill 2) Matt Kuhnemann takes the new ball (what odds of that sentence two weeks ago?) but the steady leggie with just four Sheffield Shield wickets to his name nabbed a brilliant Test five-for in the first innings and will be Australia’s big hope in this second dig. He’s bang on line from the get-go, holding his line to Gill whose wicket he claimed only yesterday. Gill knows it too, sitting still for five dots before working a single from the last.
1st over: India 8-0 (Rohit 3, Gill 1) Welcome back. It’s India at the crease, Starc thundering in. Can the surly quick with the dodgy digit conjure another miracle ball first up? No. It is down leg side and four leg byes. Not a good start! The second is also down leg but Carey claws it in with a dive. Singles follow to Sharma and then Shubman Gill before the Indian skipper clips a two. One over down, eight runs on the board and the chase is down to 80.
Australia all out 197. India are 88 runs behind.
Another day, another Australian collapse. They were so patient in the first hour, notching singles and turning the screws on India who were quietly panicking. But the introduction of Ravi Ashwin’s spin at one end and Umesh Yadav’s pace at the other was the catalyst for Australia’s cataclysm. They lost their nerve, started to swing big and the wickets tumbled – six down for 11 runs in 29 minutes. Ouch!
WICKET! Lyon b. Ashwin 5 (Australia 197-10)
A swing! A miss! Another wicket for India, their sixth in the last half-hour. Nathan Lyon was utterly undone by his nemesis Ravi Ashwin there. So that’s all she wrote. Australia all out for 197. Great fightback by India to take 6 for 11 but Australia still have a handy lead of 88 runs. Yet another twist in this epic Test!
WICKET! Murphy b. Yadav 0 (Australia 197-9)
Another one for Yadav who now has 3 for 12 from his four-and-half overs! Maybe Todd Murphy needs to go to Specsavers because he sure didn’t spot that one. Brilliant bowling by the big quick. He thundered in hard, speared the ball onto a length and sent the off picket flying.
76th over: Australia 196-8 (Murphy 0, Lyon 4) Australia have lost four wickets for 10 runs in 20 balls. They have their nose in front but it’s been cut off to spite their face. Sorry, this flurry of wickets is mangling my metaphors. Lyon will play his game no matter what, driving Umesh hard down the ground but good fielding by the bowler stops a certain boundary. He takes a single instead.