India were pushed on to the backfoot after a big rearguard action by the Australian tail generated a 97-run first innings lead of which the visitors knocked off 71 for the loss of one wicket by the close of the third day’s play of the second Test here on Friday.
The Australians were struggling at 247 for 6 before staging an amazing comeback to pile up 505 in the first innings riding on Steve Smith’s second successive century and useful contributions from the tailenders.
Smith (133) became the ninth Australian to score a century on his captaincy debut as the hosts wriggled out with Mitchell Johnson (88) and Mitchell Starc (52) adding valuable runs down the order at the Gabba. By the end of third day’s play, India reduced the deficit to 26 runs with Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara batting on 26 and 15 respectively. They were 71 for one at stumps on what turned out to be a rather disappointing day for the visitors.
The last four Australian wickets added 258 runs to virtually take the game from India, who looked like taking the first-innings lead at one stage.
Resuming the day on overnight 221 for four with Smith unbeaten on 65, Australia lost Mitchell Marsh for the addition of just 11 runs to Ishant Sharma (3/117) before Varun Aaron (2/145) had Brad Haddin caught at short leg.
But the Indian bowlers struggled thereafter as the duo of Smith and Johnson quickly went on to share a 148-run stand for the seventh wicket, a record at this venue. The runs came off just 26 overs, giving ample indication of the way they punished the visiting side bowlers. With the two batsmen going strong, Australia went to lunch at 351 for six.
After lunch, India took the second new ball as soon as it became due. But it had little effect on the attacking duo at the crease.
The partnership was finally broken in the 88th over as Johnson edged behind to MS Dhoni off Ishant. He scored 88 runs off only 93 balls, with 13 fours and 1 six, and might have changed the game completely over.
It was a double-blow for Australia in that over as Smith was finally dismissed for the first time in the series, playing on to his stumps.
Even as the 400-run mark came up in the 89th over, India would have hoped that the rest of the tailenders would provide little resistance. But they were proven wrong by a 56-run ninth wicket stand between Starc and Nathan lyon.
The visitors’ attack that had looked quite impressive on day two was now reeling under the tail’s onslaught as this pairing too added their runs at a fast clip. Yadav, Aaron and Ashwin all failed to impress as Starc-lyon scored at 6.72 runs per over.
Eventually lyon offered a chance to Rohit Sharma at mid-on and the fielder latched on to it. Starc though kept batting, reaching his fourth Test fifty off 53 balls. He added a further 49 unbeaten runs for the last wicket with Josh Hazlewood (32) as the 500-run mark was crossed in the 108th over of the innings.
However, the Indians wrapped up the innings soon after tea with last man Starc being bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin (2/128), bringing some relief to the visitors who toiled in the first two sessions.
Dhawan had opened the innings with Vijay as India looked to bat out the last session and maintain the equilibrium in the Test. Vijay started off well with a string of boundaries and he was looking good at the crease. But a charged-up Starc removed him in the 11th over of the innings, the batsman playing on to his stumps.
Dhawan and Pujara then added 30 runs in their unbroken second-wicket stand, with the Indian 50-run mark coming up in the 15th over.