India vs Australia Highlights, 1st Test Day 3: AUS 12/3 (Target 534 runs) at Stumps vs IND in Perth

Tricky final moments for Australia. Bumrah has started where he left off in the last innings. One interesting thought. Through the home season, Siraj's pace was about 125 KPH to 130 KPH however, in this game thus far he has bowled at 135 KPH which is great to see. As we update Siraj picks Cummins. While the intent from Cummins to promote himself was right that was a very poor shot from him in the end. It was a delivery that could have been left alone however, he managed to poke at it to slip. This is the worst possible nightmare for Pat Cummins on a cricket field. This will be over by tomorrow and it will be an embarrassing defeat for Australia.

Well, a lot happened. Jasprit Bumrah took the new ball and he picked up opener McSweeny. The ball jagged back in and incediently also kept low and the Australian opener had no other option. He walked back in disbelief. An interesting move from Pat Cummins he has walked himself into bat as a night watchman. It is proper leadership from the Australian skipper. His side is up against it but he did not hide and send Marnus in but he has walked in to take the responsibility of surviving. It will go a long way in the Test series despite them losing. Mohammed Siraj takes the new ball from the other end. 

That's a ton for Kohli he swept Marnus to get the boundary away to reach the three-figure mark. Ideal start for the Indian talisman for the marquee series. Additionally India has also declared the innings now. It is a mammoth chase something no team has achieved in Test cricket. Time is not the criterion for Australia but the pitch is. It is doing a lot more than it was doing in the morning and will be extremely tricky 20 minute period for Australian openers to face against McSweeny. One odd ball misbehaving and wicket going down now will put serious doubts in the minds of Australian batters. 

Kohli is closing on his ton here. It will be a century after 16 months. Incidentally, his last ton too came against West Indies. He will be relived man. There was plenty of noise about his form and he still had to ability to do it today he has shown he still has and all he needs is surfaces which aid good cricket instead of bunsen burners. This is something which the Indian team and curators have to remember going forward the batters in it and the side are very well-built to win on good pitches. There is no requirement to prepare rank turners and handicap the strength of the batters and pace bowlers. 

There has been a sudden change of gear here since the water break. Nitish Kumar has come with intent and Virat Kohli too is playing some aggressive shots for the last 10 minutes or so. We might see India declaring if Kohli gets to his ton here. Australia too is playing right into the hands of India by giving bowlers like Labuschange and Marsh overs. He might consider bringing in the main bowlers and frustrate Kohli longer. Jasprit Bumrah is taking off his gear we might see the declaration coming scene. There are about 50 minutes left in the day even if Australia play 30 minutes it will be a nightmare.

This is a trend that we have seen in the series against New Zealand when Rohit was ok to let the batters take singles and New Zealand were happy to do that and wait for the odd bad ball to come and that's how they piled on runs which resulted in India losing 3-0. And so far we are seeing the same from Cummins. Easy singles take off the pressure and once the team is prepared to sit in and be happy with those singles the in-and-out field modern tactic is extremely defensive and negative Rohit suffered and now Cummins might have to take some flack for this. 

Vinayakk: On the broadcast, they showed a graphic of Australia’s bowling map today. An utterly remarkable 94% of the balls bowled are missing the stumps, only 6% of the deliveries hitting the stumps. That’s a large number of deliveries where bowled and LBW have essentially been ruled out.

Washington Sundar tried to sweep across the line misread the delivery and the ball hit the middle stump. Finally, Australia breaks the partnership. Nitish Reddy has walked into the middle and he did feel for a couple of deliveries which kept low. The way he bats here might give us a good indication of how this wicket is playing. Especially since Mitchell Marsh has come into the attack more balls are keeping low. As long as they are just keeping low away from stumps it should not be trouble but, when the same thing starts to happen when the balls are bowled on stumps things will get very tricky. 

This is an important knock for Washington Sundar. He has been shown faith and picked ahead of both Ashwin and Jadeja. Thus far he has played solidly displaying he has good technique to defend the bowlers and also played some wristy shots from time to time indicating that he has that side of the game as well. Is it the passing the baton in the role sort of thing we have to see? He still has to bowl in this Test match and that will be indicative of where he is at with his game. He did bowl very well against New Zealand at home in fact out bowled Ashwin but this is a different challenge altogether. 

The bowlers are getting tired now and the shoulders are dropping. This is how the day started however, when Jaiswal and a few wickets fell there was a bit of spring in the step. Sundar has come in and now has faced over 80 balls for 20 absorbed all the pressure, and ended any hopes Australia had to roll out India. Once again almost an hour into the session no signs of Josh Hazlewood. It has been Starc and Cummins who have started and both have looked way off their best. Apart from Hazlewood, it has been Lyon who bowled well and did his job.

Mitchell Starc has been expensive today. In the first innings, he looked right on the money from ball one but in this innings, he struggled. He had his fair hair of issues against India in the past and today once again he has been not up to the mark. The best he looked in this innings was when he picked up Rahul around that time when he was looking for some reverse but since then there is nothing much he has been able to do with the ball. He has been either too full or too short once again, with uneven bounce there might be a case for him to hit the stumps more often than what he is bowling at the moment. He is too erratic at times.

For starters, Australia needs to bat better. It was a very lame batting effort from the side especially after bowling out India for 150 in the session. And given how the wicket played yesterday it would rub salt to the injuries of the Australia. Even from bowling perspective these are the same set of bowlers who have lost two series against India at home and once again they have looked clueless in the last couple of days. The worrying part has been there has not even been a passage of play where the bowlers troubled any of the batters when the wicket became flat. It is something they have to sort out as bowling group and batting group or the winless streak against India in bilateral series might continue. 

From the end, Nathan Lyon is bowling an odd ball hitting the crack and turning in sharply. The off-spinner seems to have found the right length on the pitch where the ball is doing unusual things, that crack will become bigger as the game goes on. Washinton Sundar who is batting would be looking at them closely. Though he did not have much to do in the first innings but he will have to bowl a lot in the second innings both as a run blocker and also to pick wickets from time to time. Especially it seems like more than left-handers if Sundar can get it right it is right-handers who can get into trouble with the off-spinners.

From an Indian perspective, it is a huge positive to see how comfortable Kohli has looked today. Mind you when he did come in the second new ball was relatively new and he left well and defended the right ones. He also made sure when the bowlers erred on line he punished them for boundaries. If he can play at this tempo through the series with this approach it will help India big time in piling on runs which will in turn help the bowlers as well. Coming into the series the batting was the vulnerable aspect of the team but for this Test at least they have batted exceptionally well and Kohli's form will ensure that there is someone in the middle-order who will score consistently and cover the batting flaws.

Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon have started the session after break. The former needs to have a good spell here. He has been rusty through the Test match now he has 30 overs under his belt and this game is going only one way. It might not be a bad ploy for Cummins to instead of looking for a wicket just bowl tight lines and lengths and get into some sort of rhythm steady in and about 140 KPH regularly. At this moment he is bowling near 130 than the 140s which is very unlike Cummins. It is a considerable improvement compared to first innings but if Australia have to come back in this series the captain needs to get it right.

We are in for the final session it will be interesting to see how India will approach this session. It should be scoring quickly but let's see what the management has decided. They have surprised with plenty of things in this game and let's see what's in store.

It looked a bit shaky after the water break for India however, Sundar and Kohli batted well and kept the innings intact if anything India has further ensured that there might be only one result in this game. We might see some fireworks post Tea and India getting to around that 500 lead and declaring. It is looking uphill for Australia. Plenty of learnings for them in this game and plenty of disappointments too. Cummins has got too many things wrong tactically even today. The Indian batters just did not have much to do and the only wickets that fell apart from Jurel and Rahul were mistakes of batters themselves rather than Australia devising some sort of plan.

Hazlewood is back into the attack. Of many things, Cummins could have done better in this Test match using Hazlewood better should be one going to Adelaide. Any new batter struggles to deal with balls around the fourth stump fifth stump area when he comes in and Hazlewood is a master in bowling those lines with immaculate lengths and if he could deliver those things with the new ball he would become doubly dangerous. However, Cummins for some reason has used him very reservedly. Giving small bursts in his spells and waiting for the magic to happen in that burst.

After a brief spell of wickets, India is once again getting some easy runs here. Both Kohli and Sundar are looking fluent. We have about 20 minutes to go for Tea and if they won't lose wickets they might start thinking about declaration. To be safe maybe India might consider making Australia chase in and around that 500 mark and with plenty of time still left in the game Australia would have no other option but to go for it.  Having said that it will be also an acid test of the Australian batting and their resilience which has been on the decline and in the first innings it was more of confirming the eye test.

Kohli is batting well here. He seems to have found the right balance between attack and defense. He is respecting the nice balls and also punishing the poor ones and he must keep that balance. In recent times we have seen him irk towards one direction much more but today he seems to have found the right balance. When he came in his runs might not have at important but what has transpired in the last 30 minutes or so he needs to stitch a partnership and look to score a handy 80-100 runs to ensure that India can win this game. 

India has a lead of 370 runs which should be enough on most wickets. However, the way this wicket has played it is hard to say. Australia if they can apply themselves they can get these runs. Hence it is important that India needs to bat time to and make sure that the wicket gets that much more difficult for batting to Australia. The cracks seem to have opened more in this session than in the morning. We might see more balls being up and down this evening by the close of play or even see prominently visible open cracks to the naked eye. It is a lot of trouble for the batters. 

Rishabh Pant departs and so does Dhruv Jurel. India lost three wickets within a space of 10 minutes here. The old Indian batting habits seem to be resurfacing of collapsing for a small total. One might argue it is the nature of Test match cricket however, Pant's dismissal and Jasiwal's dismissal are the results of not-so-great shot selection but with Jurel it was a nice incoming delivery that he missed and was trapped in front. Yes, India is ahead in this game but they have to try and bat out the day for conditions to worsen and make things difficult for Australia.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was bowled a half-tracker by Marsh and he could have hit it anywhere however, he chose to hit straight to point fielder and lost his wicket. It is a soft dismissal and the only way Australia could have got him out given how well he was batting today. India has lost two wickets now in this session and the ball is keeping low more often now hence India just might be suspectable for a collapse here. There is a possibility not that it will happen but with two new batters in if Australia strings a few good overs India might lose 2-3 wickets here in quick time. 

One issue for Australia is how poorly Pat Cummins has bowled through the Test match. Yes, he picked wickets in the first innings but for majority of the spell he has been either too short or too full and today once again he is bowling the same way. He really looks like a bowler who needs some overs under his belt. We have seen it in the past though with Cummins he tends to start long tournaments a little slowly be it IPL or ICC cricket World Cup however, he tends to level up as the series goes and settles into the rhythm.  As we update Mitchell Marsh picks up Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Pat Cummins has brought himself into the attack alongside Mitchell Marsh which is hard to understand. Maybe bringing himself in was understandable but bringing Marsh in with the new ball when Hazlewood is bowling well is hard to understand. Once again it is only the first Test and it is amazing to see how reluctant Cummins has been to bowlers the long spell and let them set up a batter. It has been short spells and too short to let batters getaway. Just when it felt like a bowler is setting the batter up and has figured out a plan he is being taken out of the attack.

It is an important inning for Kohli. Against New Zealand he walked in pressure situations however, he is coming in a situation when the team is way ahead here and the conditions are looking very good for batting. What better time to get back into form? If he can get a score here he is a sort of player who can go on a run and make the series his own as we have seen in the 2014/15 series. And for India to win their third series in a row along with Jasprit Bumrah's bowling Kohli's runs with the bat in the middle order will also be extremely important.

How good Hazlewood has been in this Test match? In the first innings, he picked up four wickets innings though there was not much help he kept at it in this innings. He bowled in and around that off-stump channel and reaped the reward with Padikkal's wicket. One thing that Cummins might reconsider as a captain is to bowl Hazlewood for longer spells and keep an end tight. As he just kept constantly chopping and changing the bowling Hazlewood could not apply the same pressure as he would have liked. A good long spell with a new ball here might do some damage to India.

Josh Hazlewood picks up Devdutt Padikkal. It is a loose shot from the batter the ball was pitched around the fourth stump fifth stump line and the batter was tentative and reached for the ball and got the edge to slip Steven Smith who took a lovely low catch bending forwards. It is a similar catch Khawaja missed last evening in Jaiswal. Virat Kohli has come into the middle. From a game perspective, there is not much at stake as India is in a pretty comfortable position but from his own form and confidence perspective he needs a good 80 or preferably ton.

We are back for the noon session and it will be interesting to see what the body language of Aussies will be. It is not much about how they can win the game from here as it seems to be gone now. It is all about just making the best out of what ever is left of this game

KL Rahul friend and former Ranji team-mate David Mathias once told this newspaper about Rahul’s favourite movie in the years gone by: The Batman – Dark Knight Returns. “We saw that three times in the theatre. We were so taken up that we pulled out other Batman movies and saw all of them.” The Batman would get inked on Rahul’s flesh. “Of all the tattoos he has, he was most excited and proud to show that Batman tattoo”. (READ MORE)

Mitchell Starc couldn’t hit out as he can do, but stayed long enough to produce a possible viral-X moment when he swayed away from a bouncer and told the bowler Rana, “I bowl a lot faster than you. And I’ve got a long memory." (READ MORE)

Sunil Gavaskar has urged the Bharat Army to change their flags, which have "Bharat" and "Army" written over them.

“I don’t think these fans are really Indians. I’m not too sure how many of them have Indian passports, so they probably don’t understand the value, the relevance, the importance of the Indian flag," said Sunil Gavaskar.  (READ MORE)

That's the end of the session and one that India dominated through and through. There were a few balls that misbehaved but nothing of sorts to trouble the Indian batters. Yashasvi Jaiswal continued where he left off from last night. KL Rahul though fell early, Devdutt Padikkal has come in and looked solid so far. He defended and left the ball nicely. India's lead is already over 300 runs and it is in a territory of historic chases in Test cricket. It is increasingly looking next to impossible for Australia to come back into the game unless a couple of batters play innings of their careers. Do join us after the Lunch break.

Devdutt Padikkal since coming in has looked top-notch. He has been leaving the ball nicely and also defending the ball well. Even with the new ball, he is looking organized. This is the most important thing in Perth give yourself time batting will start to get easier.

The new ball has been taken with about 15 minutes to go and Josh Hazlewood has taken the new ball and it is the right choice from Cummins. Starc might come from the other end and it will be a tricky period for India. They cannot go all guns blazing as they have to worry about the break and if they can survive this period they can come back and go after the bowling on the other hand, just looking to defend might also create opportunities for Australia as all India might be looking to do is defend and miss the subtle field moments and there might be lapse in concentration. 

This partnership has been growing quietly. Padikkal has looked solid after facing 40 balls in the middle and India is hoping that once the new ball comes in both these left-handers can change the tempo of the game. The wicket is offering absolutely nothing even today. Australia will be hoping that this will remain the same even when their opportunity to bat comes in which we will find out by today evening. Lyon too is not getting much turn the only help for him is the bounce which the Indian batters have adjusted nicely and are defending well.

Pat Cummins has now turned to Marnus Labuschange. It has been not bad from Marnus pace-wise but the issue has been it is too predictable. All he is doing is banging the ball into the surface. It is just tiring on his body and Indian batters are very happy to leave them. Even as an experiment there is no attempt from one to float one up there just to see batters will loosely drive one and get a knick. If Cummins believes that his fifth bowler is Marsh and Labushcange they need to be better than this. yes, Marsh was good in the first innings but who wasn't then anyone who can bowl back of the length was able to pick wickets. 

Pat Cummins seems to have found something to work with against Jaiswal here. He is bowling short and hoping that Jaiswal will go on the back foot and cut through the gully region which he did brilliantly through his innings. A few times the batter seemed a little uncomfortable facing them though today morning and it might not be looking effective now once the new ball comes and in the noon session the cracks open up a little bit more those deliveries will start to misbehave but for now it is wait and watch a few mistakes and ball falling short of fielders. Not a bad ploy from Aussies to Jaiswal.

We have reached the first water break and it has been India's hour. Yes, they have lost a wicket but they have taken the lead upwards significantly. Apart from an oddball keeping a bit low nothing much is happening. Australian seamers once again have to do all the hard work today. We are about 10 overs for the new ball, not that wickets will queue up once that ball comes in, it is not such sort of wicket however, it can test the defensive techniques of Padikkal. On the contrary, the new can also speed up the scoring rate with the ball coming nicely onto the bat. 

Mitchell Starc is bowling well here. He seems to found a way to make the ball reverse slightly. That dismissal of KL Rahul seemed like it was an out-swinger. On Day 1 given the lushness of the square, it might have been difficult to scruff up the ball on one side. However, yesterday and even today the sun is shining and we are seeing Starc is trying to get some late swing. He slipped in a yorker to Jaiswal and the left-hander was in some discomfort facing that delivery eventually he squeezed for a single but if the ball would have reversed it would have moved late either into him or away. 

Devdutt Padikkal has got off the mark this innings,, unlike the first innings where he after facing 23 balls got out for a duck. The conditions today are very different from what he experienced on Day 1. The ball is coming nicely onto the bat and the bounce too seems to be consistent with minimal seam moment. There are still about 15 overs for the new ball hence he has ample time to get himself in if he applies himself. Having said that it is not a wicket where the new batter can start with ease he needs some time to get adjusted to the bounce and once it is done as Rahul and Jaiswal have shown runs are there for the taking.

KL Rahul departs, that was a fabulous delivery from Mitchell Starc. KL Rahul has been very circumspective around that fourth stump line however, this was 3 and a half stump line if a term of such sort exists and it does not bounce much either and Carey took a low catch. This is the first sign that odd ball is keeping low which will worry Australia too. Though the wicket was not doing much it was persistent pace and being in and about that off-stump area that did the trick for Starc. However, it is only one wicket still a lot of work needs to be done for Australia in this Test match. Devddutt Padikkal walks into the middle.

Yashasvi Jaiswal uppercuts one and the ball reaches the boundary. However, there was uncertainty if the ball went on full or bounced before the hoardings third umpire looked, and on replay, it was seen the ball hit directly. A six to bring up the first Test 100 in Australia. Congratulations to the 22-year-old Jaiswal especially after scoring a duck in the first innings this is an innings of high quality he is a potential player who is destined to do great things. It seems like India has found an opener in Test match cricket for all conditions. What a fabulous inning it has been.

There seems to be a bit of urgency from the Indian batters. KL Rahul is playing a lot more drives in the morning the running between the wickets too seems to be that bit quicker. The message seems to be clear go after the bowling and take the game out of Australia's grasp completely. The body language of Australia too seems to be a little bit off. There is no chirping or urgency to push for the wickets once again they seem to come with the tactic of keeping things tight and absorbing pressure. The most frustrating part for the bowlers is fielders close in who are supposed to stop singles and are letting singles go which should not happen. 

Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc have taken the ball from either end. Though the ball is 57 overs old, India needs to be worried about the early morning moisture, which will be in the session for the first hour and help the oddball to the seam the surface. However, the grass has dried out now and the surface is looking biscuit in colour only cracks opening will give some help to bowlers to work with. From an Indian perspective get your eye in and squeeze some runs. After doing all the hard work it is time to squeeze some runs out. 

As they say Day 3 is the moving day of the Test match. Given how things have unfolded in the last couple of days we might have Test match for five days. However, the most important to watch out today is how much will the cracks open if at all they do. India are way ahead in this game and it will take some inspired performance from Australia to get back into it.

KL Rahul friend and former Ranji team-mate David Mathias once told this newspaper about Rahul’s favourite movie in the years gone by: The Batman – Dark Knight Returns. “We saw that three times in the theatre. We were so taken up that we pulled out other Batman movies and saw all of them.” The Batman would get inked on Rahul’s flesh. “Of all the tattoos he has, he was most excited and proud to show that Batman tattoo”. (READ MORE)

Rohit Sharma left India yesterday night, and the Indian captain will arrive at the ground before the start of play. 

Mitchell Starc couldn’t hit out as he can do, but stayed long enough to produce a possible viral-X moment when he swayed away from a bouncer and told the bowler Rana, “I bowl a lot faster than you. And I’ve got a long memory." (READ MORE)

Sunil Gavaskar has urged the Bharat Army to change their flags, which have "Bharat" and "Army" written over them.

“I don’t think these fans are really Indians. I’m not too sure how many of them have Indian passports, so they probably don’t understand the value, the relevance, the importance of the Indian flag," said Sunil Gavaskar.  (READ MORE)

KL Rahul friend and former Ranji team-mate David Mathias once told this newspaper about Rahul’s favourite movie in the years gone by: The Batman – Dark Knight Returns. “We saw that three times in the theatre. We were so taken up that we pulled out other Batman movies and saw all of them.” The Batman would get inked on Rahul’s flesh. “Of all the tattoos he has, he was most excited and proud to show that Batman tattoo”. (READ MORE)

Yashasvi Jaiswal is on the brink of a special Test hundred at Perth on Sunday, Day 3 of the first Test against Australia. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 90* in Perth on Saturday was a masterclass in tactical batting. He deliberately slowed down his scoring rate while carving his slowest Test fifty, emphasizing a patient and controlled approach with a patient KL Rahul for company. Day 3 morning bulletin

Yashasvi Jaiswal, the batsman who has battered all bowlers in India, in West Indies, but couldn’t replicate it on tough Test pitches in South Africa - his only real blip so to say - has taken that big step in Australia. (READ MORE)

KL Rahul was happy to play second fiddle to his junior partner and brought up his 16th 50 in his 54th test hitting just four boundaries off 124 balls.

After 17 wickets fell on day one, day two all of a sudden looked like it was being played on a different surface.

Jaiswal redeemed himself by setting sight on his fourth test century after being dismissed for nought in the first innings. He twice called for assistance during his 4½ hour innings as he nursed his right arm. He has faced 193 balls and hit two sixes and seven fours.

When Jaiswal danced down the track and hit offspinner Nathan Lyon for a huge six over long on he surpassed New Zealander Brendon McCullum’s 33 sixes in a calendar year with 34 of his own. Earlier, he had gloriously flicked left-arm swing bowler Mitchell Starc over long leg, too.

Hello, and very good morning to all our readers.  Day 3, which is also known as the moving day in the Test cricket is upon us. The first hour of the day will be very crucial for the both India and Australia at Perth. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 90 not out and KL Rahul’s unbeaten 62 took India to 172-0 at stumps and extended its lead to 218 runs after Bumrah had taken 5-30 to help bowl out Australia for 104 and secure a 46-run first-innings lead. Stay tuned for all the live action.