Lunch India 193 for 2 (Vijay 82, Rahul 67, Pujara 40*) trail Australia 451 (Smith 178*, Maxwell 104, Jadeja 5-124) by 258 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
M Vijay was out stumped after batting till the final over before lunch © Associated Press
India lost M Vijay at the stroke of lunch after the opener and Cheteshwar Pujara had built a strong platform on the third morning in Ranchi, aided by a strong dose of good fortune when both batsmen might have been out in the space of two balls.
Vijay and Pujara made it to the final over of the session before Steve O’Keefe went over the wicket and coaxed Vijay out of his ground, leaving Matthew Wade to complete the stumping. It was a belated reward for the tourists after a session in which they could have dismissed both batsmen far earlier.
Australia’s attack bowled with plenty of discipline to deny any easy scoring opportunities, and their persistence came close to paying off when O’Keefe appeared to strike Pujara in front of the stumps with the last ball of the 58th over.
The captain Steven Smith chose to review the not-out verdict, and the appeal was declined though Ultra Edge evidence suggested the ball may have struck the pad before the bat. First ball of Nathan Lyon’s next over, Vijay was caught at short leg but the appeal was declined, and with no reviews left as a result of the previous delivery, the video evidence of an inside edge onto pad was unable to be accessed.
That sequence frustrated the Australians and allowed Vijay and Pujara to lift the scoring rate considerably in the lead-up to the interval. Their stand was worth 102 when Vijay advanced unsuccessfully to O’Keefe.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo