Australia vs India: First Test, Day 3, international cricket live scores, blog

Day result:

Booed to the crease by some Australian fans at Adelaide Oval, Indian captain Virat Kohli settled in style before falling to Nathan Lyon late on a rain-hit third day of the first Test.

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Scores at end of day
Australia 235
India 250 and 3/151

Day preview:

Australia will know that the first session on Day 3 of the first Test in Adelaide is going to be a crucial one in this opening match of the series against a talented India. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 11am AEDT.

After the first ball of day 2, where the final Indian wicket fell with no more runs being added to India’s score, it looked like Australia had the perfect opportunity to drive home the advantage in this opening Test match.

But as we all know, you can’t really start to judge a Test match until both sides have batted. So we waited for the rest of day 2 with anticipation of the Aussies putting in a solid batting performance, reaching India’s 250 comfortably and starting to build a lead and pressure.

Unfortunately things haven’t gone to plan and if it wasn’t for Travis Head’s gritty 61* from almost 150 balls things could be a lot worse.

The Aussies wrapped up the day 59 runs behind the visitors on 7/191 and are still in the game but a lot now rests on Head’s shoulders, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb will be disappointed that they didn’t turn starts into decent innings.

All three made it to the upper 20s or 30s but then were undone. It’s an old story but Australia continue to miss the runs that Dave Warner and Steve Smith were often able to provide.

This home series is a great chance for one or two of the Aussie top 5 to step up and take on that role.

Aaron Finch will be disappointed not only with his duck but with the shot selection that led to it.

Getting bowled via an inside edge is always frustrating but you have to ask what he was doing playing such an aggressive off drive to the third ball of the innings.

For Harris it wasn’t a bad first Test knock – the ball wasn’t coming on quite as smoothly off the wicket as he’d have liked but he played well and got through the new ball spell.

The Indians will have made a little note though how he seemed to struggle against the spin of Ravichandran Ashwin.

Speaking of the Indian spinner, it was interesting to see Ashwin so successful so early in the match. Not only did he pick up 3 key wickets but he delivered over 30 overs at a run rate of only 1.52.

That ability to lock down an end as well as being a wicket taking threat will be crucial to India’s hopes in this series.

The Roar’s own Scott Pryde wrote ahead of Day 2:

“When India get in the field they will need something of a special day out – limiting runs, putting the pressure on and taking wickets.”

Well they did that and did it well. They will have been disappointed not to have the Aussies all back in the sheds but considering this wicket is looking like a good one to bat on, the visitors will be happy with how the day panned out.

So what does Day 3 hold for us? Obviously the Aussies will be hoping that Head can continue where he left off but he’ll need the help of the tail to do that.

Every run is precious for the home side – that gap of 59 runs must be reduced if not completely removed.

For the Indians it’s simple really – get these last three wickets quickly and then look to bat all day long in the South Australian sun.

Where: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Date: Saturday 8th December 2018
When: play starts 11am AEDT
TV: Foxsports, Channel 7
Betting: Australia $2.20, India $1.95, Draw $11.00

Australia (XI)
Marcus Harris
Aaron Finch
Usman Khawaja
Shaun Marsh
Peter Handscomb
Travis Head
Tim Paine (c) (wk)
Pat Cummins
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood

India (XI)
Murali Vijay
KL Rahul
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli (c)
Ajinkya Rahane
Rohit Sharma
Rishabh Pant (wk)
Ravichandran Ashwin
Mohammed Shami
Ishant Sharma
Jasprit Bumrah

Umpires: Nigel Llong and Kumar Dharmasena
Third Umpire: Chris Gaffaney
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle

Form
Australia – LDLLL
India – WWLLW

Played 94
Australia 41
India 26
Draw 26
Tied 1