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The Indian bowling fell apart as they have mostly done in overseas Tests throughout this year and Steven Smith combined with the lower-order to provide Australia with a huge buffer of runs going into the third day. You can follow the live blog of this third day of this third Test from the the MCG starting 10.30 am local time.
The honours were even at the end of the first day in this game but some strange Indian tactics and poor bowling allowed Australia to take command of the third Test.
Brad Haddin had shown at the Gabba he had had a problem facing genuine pace bowling from round the stumps on a hostile track but nowhere was it mentioned that he had trouble facing bowlers sending down half-trackers at 13-135 km/hr on a docile wicket.
So when India attempted that tactic yet again very early in the morning, Haddin punished the bowling with some ravishing pulls to get through to his half-century. There has been calls to replace him as a keeper because of his lack of runs and he seemed to have bought himself a little more time at that stage.
Later, however, those knives would be out for him yet again when he dropped a straightforward chance late in the day to give Cheteshwar Pujara a life.
But even before that happened, there was more misery that got piled on to the Indians when Mitchell Johnson’s 28 was followed by Ryan Harris’ cracking 74, that put the final nail in the Indian bowling’s coffin.
At the other end, Smith continued batting on like he was in a zone of his own. Nothing fazed him till the very end – and by then he had scored 192 – as India gave up trying to get him out in the end. The bowlers were more than happy giving him singles and Smith was happy to oblige, but with Harris going berserk at the other end, he needn’t have to worry.
It was only when Harris got out and Smith was left with the last two wickets that he exploded. He could have helped himself to a double-century had he shown more faith in his number 11, Josh Hazlewood, but the job for the team had been done and done well by then.
From five for 216, Australia had managed to score 530 – which was their third successive score of more than 500 in first innings of this series – and batted India out of the game.
India reached one for 108 at stumps with their in-form opener Murali Vijay still at the crease. Shikhar Dhawan, who is fast becoming India’s answer to Shane Watson, got into the 20s and then got out while Pujara just about survived 69 balls to end the day unbeaten on 25.
The mountain-climb will resume for India on day three and it’s pretty obvious they need to bat for the entire duration of the day and then some on the fourth to remain in the encounter.
To save this Test match from here on, India will need to bat well twice because of the amount of time that remains in the game. The better they bat the first time around, the easier it will be when they get their second chance later in the match.
You can follow the live score of the third day of this third Australia v India Test from 10.30 am local time on Sunday and post your comments in the section below.
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