Australia has closed day three of the third Test against India at the SCG in a commanding position, leading by 197 runs while only two wickets down in its second innings.
On a day that many expected would decide the match, Australia’s bowling unit was superbly supported in the field to bowl India out for 244, before a composed evening with the bat further extended the lead.
Pat Cummins was the pick of Australia’s bowlers, finishing with 4-29 from 21 impeccable overs, but three run outs were equally as costly for India as the match began to slip away.
Despite the loss of both Australian openers, Marnus Labuschagne (47*) and Steve Smith (29*) steered Australia to 2-103 at stumps and look set to add to the advantage on day four.
India started the day with the formidable pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease, and both set out defying the tight lines and lengths of the Australian quicks.
Runs dried up, and eventually Rahane fell trying to force a Cummins delivery to third man, chopping onto his own stumps for 22.
Scoreboard pressure was just as influential in the next wicket as, in trying for a desperate single, Hanuma Vihari took on Josh Hazlewood at mid off. The big quick swooped low to his right and, in one horizontal action, threw down the stumps to enact a miraculous run out.
While those were the only wickets of the morning session, Pujara’s slow scoring rate meant India hadn’t made any ground in the game. Pujara would eventually complete the slowest 50 of his Test career, but it came at a cost.
Rishabh Pant tried to pick up the pace, but was caught behind not long after Cummins struck him with a painful blow on the elbow, one that saw him sent for scans and forced him to hand the gloves to sub Wriddhiman Saha for the second innings.
Only a few balls later, Cummins made the big breakthrough. An inch-perfect delivery caught the thumb of Pujara on its way through to keeper Tim Paine, ending a dogged resistance and sparking a collapse.
Ravichandran Ashwin was lazy between the wickets and became victim of another run out, before Navdeep Saini’s inauspicious Test batting debut ended with a meek push to short cover off the bowling of Mitchell Starc.
Labuschagne put forward his own entry for run out of the day, scurrying away from short leg before throwing down the non-striker’s stumps with Jasprit Bumrah short of his ground. With that wicket, India had lost 5-21.
Ravindra Jadeja had a brief and somewhat successful slog, at the cost of another injury when Starc struck his thumb, but Mohammed Siraj’s nick through to Paine brought India’s innings to a disappointing end.
Australia had the final session to navigate, and both Will Pucovski and David Warner looked positive at the crease.
The former was undone by a fantastic ball by Siraj that caught the edge, while Warner was out LBW while trying to slog-sweep Ashwin.
But Labuschagne and Smith had few such problems, pacing themselves early before adding some late evening runs as the lead began to swell.
Both batsmen will be eyeing big scores on day four, with Australia’s thoughts no doubt on setting an insurmountable target and getting busy with the ball tomorrow.
Look back at how the action unfolded in our live blog.
Live updates
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Stumps: Australia is 2-103, leading by 197
Australia will be thrilled with day three of this Test. After an even first session, things completely swung in their favour thanks to some remarkable work in the field in the afternoon, followed by this partnership between Steve Smith (29*) and Marnus Labuschagne (47*), which is now worth 68.
They look as rock solid as they did in the first innings, which is rotten news for India, which desperately needs an Australian batting collapse of epic proportions to have a chance in this game.
Australia will be looking to heap the pain on in the first two session tomorrow and build that lead up well beyond 300 to set up a comprehensive win, for once led by their batting performances.
In saying that, the bowlers deserve a lot of credit for snuffing out the Indian innings for just 244 before tea. Pat Cummins (4-29) and Josh Hazlewood (2-43) were both on point and each had dynamite run-outs to boot. As did Labuschagne (the run-outs thing, not the bowling).
Let’s all meet back here tomorrow to see how it all goes down!
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Australia v India: Third Test at the SCG
By Daniel Colasimone
Australia’s day
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Alex Blackwell:
“Australia well on top here.
“Wonderful partnership building between Smith and Labuschagne, 68 it’s worth at the moment.
“A shame for India with a couple of injuries, but there’s still a long way to go, two more days.”
By Daniel Colasimone
Australia bowled well as a group: Hazlewood
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Josh Hazlewood on ABC Grandstand at stumps:
“We definitely would have taken that at the start of the day.
“The way we strangled them with the ball, that’s the way you’ve got to do it here, you’re not going to blast them out.
“I thought we did it really well as a group. And Nathan Lyon was very unlucky today, he deserved more.”
On his stunning run-out:
“We always try and challenge the batters by being really good fielders ourselves.”
By Jon Healy
29th over – Saini to bowl what could be the last over of the day
The first ball is a waste down the leg side.
Smith punches through point off the back foot. He’s played that shot really well today.
For some reason, India is the team trying to waste time. Usually that’s the domain of the batting side, but not right now. Fielders coming from all over for a conference with Saini.
FOUR! A straight half-volley on Marnus’s pads is belted to the rope past mid-on. Great shot.
And then a straight full toss is clipped for a single to end the day’s play.
By Jon Healy
Do you think anything over 300 will be enough?
-Mike
Yeah, but with the lead already 191 and two full days left, they’ll want to go really big in the first two sessions tomorrow.
By Jon Healy
28th over – Siraj will steam in
Marnus Labuschagne is ready to defend.
He’s lucky to make it through after completely closing the face on a ball on his pads and getting a leading edge. It could’ve gone anywhere but it fell safely.
So the next ball is a more traditional forward defence. Perhaps slightly exaggerated in holding his shape to remind himself what he’s supposed to do.
By Jon Healy
27th over – Saini will try again
Marnus lets out a frustrated, gutteral grunt as he edges onto his thigh. He knows he missed out there.
Nathan Lyon is padded up as night watchman as Labuschagne sneaks up the other end on a misfield at cover.
Saini is much slower than the other Indian bowlers when it comes to getting through his overs. It’s a welcome relief from the rapidity of Ashwin, Bumrah and Jadeja.
By Daniel Colasimone
Australia’s most threatening partnership
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Alex Blackwell says these two are looking good:
“Smith has been particularly disciplined. Happy to block in front of the stumps, and just waiting for that overpitched ball.
“And Labuschagne down the other end, both these batsmen looking in good touch.
“At number three it’s so important that [Labuschagne] makes those starts.”
By Jon Healy
Are they extending play at all to make up for the lost time on days 1 & 2?
-Ben
They’ve started earlier on days two and three. And yesterday every session was extended by half an hour. Not sure if that’ll be the case every day.
Seems like we’ll only be playing for 15 more minutes, until 6:00pm AEDT, today though. They’ve also lost a lot of time to in-play delays like injuries today.
By Jon Healy
26th over – Siraj again
Easy money off the toes for Labuschagne. This pair looks so solid again.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja has also been sent for scans.
Two more for Smith, piercing a narrow gap past square leg.
By Jon Healy
By Jon Healy
25th over – Labuschagne to face the start of Navdeep Saini’s latest spell
More runs off the pads in front of square for Labuschagne. He moves to 40.
Smith’s happy to just defend here. Not long until stumps.
Welp, he’s shut me up there. FOUR! Crashed through cover.
By Jon Healy
24th over – Siraj continues with Australia’s lead 177
The first one straightens a little bit and Labuschagne defends the air near the ball. A rare false stroke in this innings.
A superb whip through midwicket isn’t matched by the Indian fielding. Still only three runs, but Ashwin was slow, the throw in didn’t reach the pitch, and Rohit Sharma’s relay throw went over the middle of the pitch because the keeper wasn’t up to the stumps.
By Jon Healy
I don’t know why they keep putting Warner in. Every selection he is hyped up, and yet never succeeds. Find someone else.
-Grace
In fairness Grace, he averages 48 in Tests, has 24 tons and he scored 786 runs at 131 last summer, including an unbeaten triple century. So, not never.
By Jon Healy
23rd over – More Bumrah
BEATEN! That was an absolute blinder of a delivery, ducking away off the seam and leaving Smith only able to nod in approval.
So, naturally, the next ball Smith defends to mid-on and gives it a weird hopping “WAIT ON” to refocus himself.
By Jon Healy
22nd over – Mohammed SIraj returns in place of Ashwin
Labuschagne murders a cover drive, but it’s stopped well by the fielder. That was four for sure if he hadn’t ended its journey.
So Labuschagne goes to the leg side for a single. Smith does the same. These two are digging in for a long one by the looks of things. India might need a miracle run-out.
By Jon Healy
21st over – Jasprit can bowl non-stop
A couple of balls are staying low and Smith’s squared up, but it doesn’t mean for him what it does for other batsmen.
What a stunner! Smith drills four through cover. They’ve left that gap for him to tempt him into it and he took the bait, left the hook and enjoyed his meal. Great shot.
By Jon Healy
20th over – Ashwin once more
Smith tries to drive off the back foot and almost chips it to mid-off again. Looked like he cue-ended it.
This time he goes a bit squarer, powering it through cover, but Rohit Sharma does brilliantly well to stop the boundary. Textbook slide and flick.
By Daniel Colasimone
Indian-style wrist work from Marnus
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Alex Blackwell was delighted with Labuschagne’s flick to the boundary last over.
“Wow that was an incredible shot, à la so many Indian batsmen we’ve seen over the years.
“Good enough to keep it on the ground and pierce the gap.”
