Mohali: If it was raining boundaries on the third day at the PCA Stadium, then on the fourth day of the third Test, it was tumbling wickets as first it was Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc who bowled an exceptional spell of swing bowling after lunch and in the final session it was Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who struck thrice to keep India's winning hopes alive.
After India got all out for 499, taking 91 runs lead in the first innings, Australia were struggling at 75 for 3.
The first session brought some sigh of relief for the Australian dressing room as Nathan Lyon dismissed debutant Shikhar Dhawan who added just two runs to his overnight score and got out after scoring a magnificent 187 runs. Dhawan’s exit brought Chetashwar Pujara at the centre but before he could not settle down as he got leg before wicket to Siddle to a ball which had hit his bat first and then the pad but the umpire failed to read it.
After the dismissal of Pujara, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar made his way to the middle and started off with some positive shots and was running between the wickets quite swiftly. Tendulkar played his part really well and Vijay cashed in his opportunity to have master at the other end and the duo scored 92 runs to take India to a comfortable position. This partnership was broken just before the lunch by Rookie-spinner Steven Smith who got the Master out on his first delivery of the day.
With the fall of Tendulkar’s wicket, Virat Kohli took the crease and complimented Vijay really well in the second session. In the second session of the fourth day, it was Murali Vijay who batted a class apart while Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle did some serious damage with the second new ball.
Vijay went on to score his second 150 plus score in successive Test matches. He reached this feat by smashing a boundary and was looking in aggressive mode since he passed the score of 125.
Both the new ball bowlers kept their line straight and kept on hitting the deck with 140+ pace which troubled the Indian batsmen. It was 102nd over of the Indian innings that brought the dramatic twist and turn in the match when Starc picked up two wickets in the span of four deliveries. Murli Vijay who was looking good for getting a double ton got out to the in-swinging delivery from Mitchell Starc. Vijay departed after scoring a brilliant 153 in 317 balls. With that dismissal of Vijay, Dhoni came out to bat and got off the mark with a straight drive that went for the four. But he got out to an in-swinger of Starc who was looking deadly at that point of time.
The way the Australian quickies were bowling, it was looking like as if tail-enders won’t be able to resist much and that happened as Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin nicked the ball that was pitched outside the off-stump and Brad Haddin did no mistake to hold on the catches. Peter Siddle, who bowled his heart out, took these two wickets and was looking very relieved with his performance.
Bhuvneshwar came out to the middle and tried to steady the Indian ship and stretched the Indian innings up till tea. In this difficult time, Virat kept on taking singles and doubles to keep the momentum going and relieved the pressure by scoring a well-deserved half-century off 108 balls. Indian batsmen managed to add just 95 runs and played 31.1 overs.
The third session saw the maximum number of dismissals as both the teams lost three wickets each and they managed to add just 95 runs in this session.
Virat and Bhuvneshwar, who did well in the last one hour of the second session, was looking bit scratchy and as a result Moises Henriques got Bhuvneshwar out when he was trying to ball and ball kissed the gloves and went straight to the keeper’s gloves. After this dismissal, it was just a formality as Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha didn’t trouble the scorers much and departed in quick successions at the score of 0 and 1 run. Kohli did well and was looking good as he remained not-out at 67.
Australia came in to bat for the 21 overs of the day’s play and had a very shaky start as their opener David Warner departed on the second delivery of the first over of the Australia’s second innings. David Warner edged the out-swing delivery and gave a simple catch to Indian captain and keeper MS Dhoni.
Out-of-form Philip Hughes made his way to the centre and started playing some good strokes to ease the things in the middle. But very soon Australia got the second blow; it was Ed Cowan, who was trapped by Bhuvaneshwar in his fourth over. Ball did pitch partly outside the line but umpire thought it held his line to hit the stumps and that’s what brought the end of Ed Cowan’s innings.
Ed Cowan’s dismissal brought some surprises as Steven Smith came out to bat instead of Australian Captain Michael Clarke. Clarke didn’t come out to bat because of some problem in his lower-back which troubled him during the fielding too. Philip Hughes kept on taking the calculated risks and kept the scoreboard ticking which forced Dhoni to make some changes to shake him up but Hughes kept using his feet very well and didn’t mind taking the aerial root. As it was looking that, Australia might recover from here on but Bhuvneshwar bowled a gem of the delivery to bamboozle Steven Smith. Smith was awe-struck as the ball not just reversed a bit but also was more of a leg-cutter which was too good for him. With the loss of this wicket, Australia was completely bogged down as they managed to add just 55 runs in this innings by this time.
Nathan Lyon made his way to the middle as night watchman and did well to resist the spin attack from Indian trio. Philip Hughes got past fifty in just 50 balls with the help of nine boundaries and one huge six.