Monday 16 / December / 2024
Brisbane : Australia's pace blitz left Indian batters exposed in a session utterly dominated by the hosts, with rain constantly making its presence felt at irregular intervals on Day 3 of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Monday.
As the rain came down from the sky covered with dark clouds, both sides had to take Lunch, with India reduced to 22/3, trailing by 423 runs, with KL Rahul unbeaten with a score of 13(24).
In a start-stop session utterly dominated by Australia, Indian players were once again asked to reflect on their flaws as the impending doom of defeat started to linger in Brisbane.
It was A-Lister Jasprit Bumrah who paved the way for India by removing Mitchell Starc in the opening hour. Starc looked deadly the moment he smoked the ball into the stand with a picture-perfect slog-sweep off Ravindra Jadeja.
Bumrah sensed the threat radiating from the Starc and forced out an edge from the southpaw in the next over. Starc's feet were stuck on the ground as he made an attempt to push the ball away.
A loose waft from the Australian was enough to pick up a nick as the ball travelled into the safe gloves of Rishabh Pant.
With Alex Carey on the field, Nathan Lyon resisted the temptation to go after the Indian attack, as rain made its presence felt at irregular intervals.
With the tempo of the day set, Mohammed Siraj broke the shackles and managed to breach past Lyon's defence to hit the middle stump.
With just a wicket left, Carey decided to charge at Akash Deep but ended up mistiming his shot, forcing Australia to wrap up its inning on 445.
In reply, Indian batters continued to live through the nightmares inflicted in Adelaide, with Starc being the driving force of the Australian pace attack.
His first victim of the day was Yashasvi Jaiswal, a player he has developed a rivalry with since the Perth Test. The young Indian southpaw managed to avoid a golden duck by edging the ball to the boundary, but Starc retaliated by swinging the ball and using the scrambled seam delivery to its effective use.
He picked up Jaiswal's wicket on his second ball of the match after the Indian chipped it away straight into Mitchell Marsh's hands. Shubman Gill (1) was next to return cheaply after he edged it away to Marsh, who took a flight and snaffled it with both hands.
Virat Kohli (3) soon joined the company of the duo after being tempted by Hazlewood to chase the outside off delivery and edge it away towards the wicketkeeper.
This marked the final action of the session as KL Rahul, who looked the most settled out there, returned to the dressing room.
Brief Score: Australia 445 (Travis Head 152, Steven Smith 151; Jasprit Bumrah 6-76) vs India 22/3 (KL Rahul 13*; Mitchell Starc 2-11)
