Nathan Lyon led the way with the ball for Australia, picking up three of the four wickets to fall in India’s second innings after Australia eked out a 88-run lead in the first innings.
The second session saw India managing to score 79 with Cheteshwar Pujara unbeaten on a fighting 36. However, he saw his partners fall away after brief stints allowing Australia to hold the upper hand still.
It started with Lyon getting past a wildly swinging Shubman Gill in the first over after the break. While Rohit Sharma kept Pujara company for 58 balls, he too copped one that shot through a tad low from Lyon and was out LBW, with DRS too going against his wishful call. Virat Kohli had a nervy stay in the middle getting past a few close shaves, but on 13 after he had slapped a short ball from Matthew Kuhnemann to the cover boundary, he tried to pull one and was trapped LBW again. The trend continued minutes before Tea, when Lyon ended Ravindra Jadeja’s dogged 36-ball stay getting him out LBW with the aid of a review.
All through this, Pujara managed to be more confident with his footwork drilling a couple of drives to keep the scoreboard ticking along and shaving off the deficit.
Earlier in the day, despite a collapse that saw Australia lose their last six wickets for 11 runs, the visitors finished with a possibly pivotal lead of 88 runs.
Starting the day with a lead of 47, Cameron Green and Peter Handscomb made it Australia’s first hour seeing it out without much problem. India opted to start with their two left-arm spinners after a brief spell from Mohammed Siraj in that hour and it did not yield the desired results.
Both Handscomb and Green used their long reach to smother the spin and defend confidently, and ground the attack out while adding 30 invaluable runs through that hour.
However, things took a drastic turn after R Ashwin and Umesh Yadav started operating in tandem in the second hour. Ashwin was the first to get the breakthrough having Handscomb caught at short leg and breaking a stoic partnership worth 40 in 134 balls.
In the next over Umesh hit Green on the backfoot and had an LBW decision upheld by the barest of margins as the batter reviewed. This was followed by a demolition job of the tail with Umesh sending the stumps flying to send back Todd Murphy and Mitchell Starc, while Ashwin cleaned up Lyon who missed a big sweep.
The collapse saw Australia lose six wickets in less than half an hour, giving India a slight opening but their spinners ensured that India were not allowed to push through the door.
Brief Scores: India 109 (Virat Kohli 22; Matthew Kuhnemann 5-16, Nathan Lyon 3-35) and 79/4 (Cheteshwar Pujara 36*; Nathan Lyon 3-27) trail Australia 197 (Usman Khawaja 60, Marnus Labuschagne 31; Ravindra Jadeja 4-63, R Ashwin 3-44, Umesh Yadav 3-12) by 9 runs
