By: Tarish Bhatt
In difficult conditions, you cannot have a total in mind. You keep your head down and bat as long as possible. KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara did exactly that. They batted with grit and determination on Day 3.
Pujara, in particularly, showed a lot of temperament and struck and unbeaten fifty. He added crucial runs with Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane. At stumps, India took a convincing lead of 126 runs over Australia in Bengaluru.
Read More: India Bundle Australia for 189 in First Innings
Pacer Josh Hazlewood proved to be the most successful bowler for Australia. He took three wickets in the second session to trouble India. But, Pujara and Rahane bailed India out with an unbeaten 93-run partnership.
The Indians scored 91 runs in the final session without losing any wicket. For the first time in the Test match no wicket fell in the session. At the close of day’s play India were 213/4 with Rahane and Pujara in the middle.
Read More: How India Lost Crucial Moments in Bengaluru
“We went in with very clear intent to use our feet and rotate strike,” Rahul said. “That’s the only way we could put pressure back, because the fielders were back on the boundaries.”
“Been really disappointing, getting start and not converting them, especially when the team needed me to stay out and get big runs. Tried to build from strength to strength and hopefully I can build on it moving forward too.”
“Hopefully Rahane and Pujara can continue and get us a 100 more runs, that’ll be gold,” he concluded.
