India a day away from wrapping up series as Australia lose initiative after good start on Day 4
On this tour, Australia’s biggest problem has been letting go of the advantages. They have performed well on several occasions but always ended up losing the momentum. They won several sessions but never won the day. They took wickets but always let a big partnership bloom; batted well but lost wickets in succession after that.
And Sunday was no different for the visitors. They outplayed India in the first two sessions of the day but lost the day in the last session. Creditably, they did well to contain India’s first innings to 499 runs despite two batsmen registering 150-plus scores - Shikhar Dhawan (187) and Murali Vijay (153).
Trailing by 91, their batsmen only needed to consume the remaining one-and-a-half hour without losing a wicket to ensure that they had all their batsmen to fight out the last day of the match. But they lost three. Despite a good show by their bowlers, they ended up surrendering the day to India once again. And this time their tormentor wasn’t a spinner.
India’s new blue-eyed boy Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed three Australian batsmen to reduce the visitors to 75 for three at stumps on day four of the third Test for Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Philip Hughes (53) and Nathan lyon (4) were at the crease.
Ed Cowan, David Warner and Steven Smith — all three of them scored half-centuries in the first innings — fell by the wayside in the 21 overs, handing an upper hand in the match to India. Australian skipper Michael Clarke’s degenerative back condition further added to the anxiety of the Australian camp. It is still unknown whether he will be able to bat or not on Monday.
If day three belonged to the batsmen, day four witnessed the bowlers taking centre stage. First Peter Siddle shone for Australia with his first five-for on this tour and then Bhuvneshwar (3 for 25) made his presence felt with the ball on Sunday, which saw 13 wickets fall.
The Uttar Pradesh medium-pacer was spot on from the first ball. His second ball induced an edge from Warner’s bat which fell just in front of a diving Ravichandran Ashwin. Warner, who got the benefit of playing with soft hands on the previous ball, slashed hard on the next ball, which was going away from him, and MS Dhoni collected an easy catch.
Dhoni then changed his end to take advantage of the evening wind blowing across the stadium. Bhuvneshwar consistently put doubts in batsmen’s mind with a good mix of in-swingers and out-swingers. Cowan became his second victim when he missed the line of the ball and took it on the pad. Then, Smith fell to a ball which straightened after pitching on the middle-leg and uprooted his stumps.
The sole comfort factor for Australia was Philip Hughes (53 batting), whose top score in four innings so far was 19. It seems a few overs of pace bowling early in his innings helped his feet move. Though, he was lucky too with several edges falling well short of slip and the ball snaking past the bat on several occasions.
Earlier, India began the day with the loss of Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket. The left-handed opener could only add two runs before getting out. It was a soft dismissal as Dhawan pushed hard on a length ball from Nathan lyon and handed an easy catch to Ed Cowan at silly point. Barring Murali Vijay’s assiduous advance to 153 and Virat Kohli’s calculated innings of 67 not out, no Indian batsmen could stand against Siddle and Co.
Australian bowlers deserve praise for their effort and Siddle a full round of applause for his persistent and well-directed crack at the Indian batting taking 5 for 71 on a ground where he made his debut in 2008.
Brief Scores
Australia: 408 and 75 for 3 in 21 overs. (Phillip Hughes 53 batting; Nathan lyon 4 batting; Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 3/25) trail India: 499 all out in 132.1 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 187, Murali Vijay 153, Virat Kohli 67 not out Sachin Tendulkar 37; Peter Siddle 5/71), Mitchell Starc 2/74) by 16 runs at close of play on Day 4 of third Test.