Lunch India 332 (Jadeja 63, Rahul 60, Pujara 57, Lyon 5-92) lead Australia 300 by 32 runs
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Chappell: 40-50 runs lead should not be decisive
Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha put together a priceless partnership to push India into the lead before Australia struck in the minutes before lunch on day three in Dharamsala, keeping the hosts’ advantage to 32.
As had been the case in Ranchi, India’s seventh-wicket stand was a thorn in Australian sides, lifting them from an overnight deficit of 52 to an advantage of 17 before the visitors were able to find a wicket. Jadeja’s innings maintained his up-surge as a cricketer, not only the world’s No. 1 ranked bowler but also now making more of his batting talent.
He had solid support from Saha, who was fortunate to still be at the crease given Matt Renshaw’s drop off the bowling of Cummins the previous evening. It was ultimately Cummins who ended the stand by coaxing Jadeja to drag onto the stumps, before also claiming Saha with a spiteful bouncer that the wicketkeeper gloved into the outstretched right hand of Steven Smith at second slip.
These wickets feel either side of O’Keefe finding some turn in his first over of the session to defeat Bhuvneshwar Kumar, with Smith also claiming this catch. He had refrained from using O’Keefe while Jadeja was at the crease, a measure of the respect the tourists had for the left-hander’s potential to score quickly.
The Australians thought they had a wicket with the very first ball of the morning, when Cummins angled across Jadeja and there was a noise as the ball passed the bat. The umpire Marais Erasmus raised his finger instantly, but Jadeja reviewed just as fast. Replays showed the bat had brushed his back pad rather than the ball, the decision reversed.
With the ball still new, it swung and bounced disconcertingly at times, requiring all of Jadeja’s skill to keep it down. Saha proved an effective partner, and the scoring rate rose dangerously for an Australian side conscious of not giving up too much of a lead. At the same time, Smith and his bowlers were straining for wickets, as evidenced by an ambitious referral for lbw against Saha by Josh Hazlewood off an inside edge, and also a preponderance of niggling chatter between bowlers and batsmen.
Not for the first time, Cummins took it upon himself to generate something, and did so by going around the wicket to Jadeja after the allrounder had hooked a pair of short balls in his previous over. The middle stump was knocked back and Jadeja walked off cursing, soon to be joined by Bhuvneshwar and then Saha.
Kuldeep Yadav added a pesky few runs with the last man Umesh Yadav before Nathan Lyon returned to the bowling crease and had the debutant wristspinner taken at deep backward square leg on the sweep with his first ball. That gave Lyon a deserved five-wicket haul, and left the touring batsmen to contemplate the best way to build a lead.
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo