Barring the first session, Australia once again had the better of the proceedings as they ended the third day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India on 123 for 4, an overall lead of 296. Marnus Labuschagne was unconquered on a patient 41, with Cameron Green having held him stave off a late surge from the Indian bowlers.
Most of the action took place in the opening session, when Ajinkya Rahane (89) and Shardul Thakur (51) shared an association of 109 for the seventh wicket to give India a semblance of hope of making a comeback. After KS Bharat was castled by a nip-backer from Scott Boland, the duo ran the opposition ragged by pinching singles and twos, alongside cracking flicks, drives and the occasional pull.
It turned out to be a session where Australia missed a slew of chances to make further inroads. With the score reading 152 for 6, Usman Khawaja dropped a tough chance at third slip off Boland. A few overs later, Green grassed a relatively simple chance at gully off Pat Cummins. On both occasions, Shardul was the batter. Australia’s woes didn’t end there, as a vociferous LBW appeal by Green against Rahane was turned down. The ball-tracker then showed it as the umpire’s call on hitting the stumps.
On the stroke of lunch, Cummins and Australia had to go through more misery as David Warner put down another tough chance at first slip. Alex Carey, the wicketkeeper, could have gone for the catch, but he stopped in his tracks after making the initial move to take it. Australia have a below-par 75 percent catch efficiency in the current WTC cycle. Just to think of it, there was a time when they had a great cordon comprising Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden and others.
In the last over of the session, Cummins’ loud appeal for an LBW against Shardul was answered in the affirmative by the umpire. However, Shardul placed his belief in the review, and replays showed that Cummins had bowled a no-ball. At the end of that over, Cummins kicked the ball away in frustration.
To Australia’s credit, they put all those missed opportunities behind them and bounced back in the afternoon session. Not surprisingly, it was the relentless Cummins who led the way. In his opening over after lunch, he induced Rahane to crack one through the gully region, where an agile Green took a superb one-handed catch to make up for the earlier drop. Cummins followed that up by castling Umesh Yadav with a peach that nibbled away just enough.
Despite losing a couple of his batting partners, Shardul continued to blend grit with positive intent. The way he on-drove Cummins in the 68th over made even Ricky Ponting say “shot of the day” on air. Shardul, who took a couple of blows on his arm at the start of his innings, finally fell to Green, with Carey grabbing a simple chance behind the stumps. Mitchell Starc then dismissed Mohammed Shami as India were bundled out for 296.
On the back of a substantial lead of 173, Australia lost both openers cheaply. Mohammed Siraj had Warner edging behind, while Umesh Yadav induced a lazy stroke from Khawaja. Labuschagne found an able ally in Smith as the experienced duo added 62 for the third wicket. Labuschagne had to work really hard for his runs as he was hit on the thigh and finger in a single over from Siraj. In fact, even in the first innings, he had been struck on the finger while facing Siraj.
In the last hour, Ravindra Jadeja did account for the wickets of both the first-innings centurions – Smith and Travis Head – but by then Australia were in command. With the pitch offering enough uneven bounce, Australia’s four tall pacemen – all of them bowl with a higher release than their Indian counterparts – would fancy their chances of powering their side to a maiden WTC triumph. They would need some help from the slip fielders though.
Brief scores: Australia 469 (Travis Head 163, Steve Smith 121; Mohammed Siraj 4-108) and 123/4 (Marnus Labuschagne 41*; Ravindra Jadeja 2-25) lead India 296 (Ajinkya Rahane 89; Pat Cummins 3-83) by 296 runs