The way Mitchell Johnson and Steve Smith were batting in the morning session, it looked that Australia will run away with the game. This, however, didn’t happen as India manage to bundle the hosts in the final session and then played the remaining overs at the expense of one wicket.
Indian openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay gave a steady start and made 41 runs for the first wicket. Vijay, in particular, was looking solid and brimming with confidence but he miss judged Mitchell Starc’s delivery, which cannoned into the stumps.
Dhawan, meanwhile, continued playing well and left some good deliveries from outside off and also survived a caught-behind shout. The good thing about Dhawan’s batting was he put prize on his wicket and played through the stumps, with Cheteshwar Pujara at the other end.
India ended the third day’s play at 71/1 with Dhawan remained unbeaten on 26 and Pujara made a watchful 15, as they made an unbeaten 30-run partnership for the second wicket. The touring party is now trailing by just 26 runs.
Earlier, India started the day on a good note by taking a couple of quick wickets of Mitchell Marsh and Brad Haddin. Despite starting the session strongly India lost way as they allowed the partnership between Johnson and Smith to flourish.
Johnson and Smith made 148 runs partnership for the seventh wicket, with the former was at his dazzling best. The southpaw Johnson made full use of India’s wayward bowling and hammered the Indian attack brutally.
Meanwhile, Smith kept playing at the other end and completed his century on debut as a skipper. This was Smith’s second century of the series, while Johnson also completed his half-century.
Australia looked set for a big lead but Indians managed to limit the damage by quickly wrapping-up the tail. Ishant took three wickets, so did Umesh Yadav, while Varun Aaron and Ravichandran Ashwin took two wickets each.
