IND vs AUS 3rd Test: What a day it has turned out to be in Indore. Australia under the leadership of Steve Smith looks like a force to reckon with, at least as far as their bowling is concerned. India walked into this Test match with an assailable lead of 2-0 and were the favourites to win this Test match too, but things have suddenly changed and you can see India getting anxious and desperate now. Spin was Australia's greatest nemesis, but it looks as if India have been at the receiving end.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first. Considering how important the first innings runs are, India were expected to score big and put the Aussies under pressure. The hosts had a pretty shaky start with Rohit Sharma surviving two dismissal scares in the very first over from Mitchell Starc. Australia did not opt for any DRS in the first over and that elongated Rohit's stay at the crease.
The pitch assisted Australia with vicious turn and bounce and Australia's Kuhnemann made the most of it. Only Kohli and Shubman Gill could go past the scores of 20. Left-arm spinner Kuhnemann finished with 5 wickets and restricted India severely. Before India could know, they were restricted to 88/8. Late-minute heroics from Umesh Yadav ensured that India got past 100. The right-handed pacer scored 17 off 13 deliveries with the bat and helped India to finish on 109.
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India might have fancied their chances at the Holkar Stadium after analyzing the nature of the wicket. Ravindra Jadeja landed the first blow by dismissing Travis Head, but even after that Australia piled up runs and took a handsome 47-run lead with 6 wickets in hand. Jadeja was the only wicket-taker for India as he took 4. Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne along with Steve Smith took the Aussie batting to a good position. Australia are currently at 156/4. India would want to get them as quickly as possible on Day 2.
India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann
