Cheteshwar Pujara's century, which came off 280 balls, was all about patience. He is the fifth Indian batsman to score a Boxing Day Test hundred.
India vs Australia, 3rd Test: Hosts Australia were 8/0 at stumps, trailing India (443/7 decl) in the first innings at the end of day two in Melbourne.
Debutant Mayank Agarwal provided the base with a confident 76 before Kohli and Pujara steered India to a solid 215/2 on Day 1 at MCG.
Once India finish their Test engagements against Australia, they will next play the five-day format in July, 2019 against the West Indies in a two-Test series as part of the World Test Championship.
Australia were on course for a series-levelling win after reducing India to 112-5 at stumps on day four.
Hanuma Vihari and Ishant Sharma were the picks of the bowlers for India by taking two wickets each on the first Day of Perth Test.
There is no doubt that Virat Kohli and Co. have every right to revel in their hard-fought triumph, a few headaches persist even after the fabulous win.
India, who claimed the opening Test by 31 runs, were 86 for 5 in the first innings before Cheteshwar Pujara's gritty 123 helped the visitors post 250.
It seems like India have slowly acquired the status of choking teams to death in their last innings.
The Aussie captain singled out Cheteshwar Pujara as the difference between the two sides. The Saurashtrian scored his maiden ton on Australia soil, his 15th Test century.
The visitors lost their last seven wickets for 73 runs, and the last five for 25 runs, as they were bowled out for 307 runs in the second innings.
After bowling out India for 307, Australia were set a target of 323 but have lost four wickets in the bargain, courtesy of Ashwin and Shami's strikes. India are 6 wickets away from a win.
Taking a leaf out of Pujara's book, Head scored a 167-ball 72 to steer Australia to 235 on the third day of first Test on Saturday.
Ashwin will obviously play a more crucial now role because with the rough, said Bumrah.
At the close of play, Cheteshwar Pujara was unbeaten on 40 runs, while Ajinkya Rahane was batting on 1 not out. India led by 166 runs.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul put India in a strong position after day three's play in the Adelaide Test.
Ganguly termed India's batting display as 'loose' and said that the batsmen failed in their shot selection.
Pujara scored 246-ball 123 to pull India out of trouble in the ongoing match at Adelaide Oval.
The talismanic batsman, who is famous for his grounded shots and hard-fought run between the wickets broke his almost five years jinx.
Australia dominated proceedings most of the day but Cheteshwar Pujara's 123 guided India to 250/9 at stumps on day one of the Adelaide Test.
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