Key events
31st over: India 108-8 (Axar 11, Umesh 17) This is Australia’s nightmare recurring. They’ve got their foot on India’s throat but somehow the home side’s tail enders are wrestling back the momentum. With Umesh 17 off 11 balls, the Indore crowd that has been murmuring in distress all day is suddenly in a state of mayhem.
31st over: India 106-8 (Axar 10, Umesh 16) Bash goes Umesh! The slog sweep off Lyon was streaky, this one off Murphy is freaky as he lunges low and scooped it into the crowd on the leg side. Same result though. SIX! And then a four from the last! Eleven runs from the over and India’s tail are flying again. Steve Smith is starting to sweat.
30th over: India 95-8 (Axar 9, Umesh 6) Umesh Yadav is the new batter and from the swagger in his strut and the set of his shoulders he looks like a ‘good-timer’ not a ‘long-timer’. Facing Lyon, with 3-26 from 10 overs, on a pitch doing plenty, he may well be a ‘short timer’. It works this time, as he hoiks Lyon’s last ball over midwicket for six with a colossal slog sweep. Streaky shot but the crowd love it and every run for India is vital.
WICKET! Ashwin c. Carey b.Kuhnemann 3 (India 88-8)
Kuhnemann has four wickets! That was a peach of a ball too. He put it on a lovely length where the batter had to play. Ashwin prodded forward and the ball hit the seam and did just enough off the wicket to kiss the edge and Carey again pouched it beautifully. India reviewed but the spike on Snicko was huge. 88 for 8. Triple 8s! Lucky for some, not for India.
29th over: India 88-7 (Axar 8, Ashwin 3) Almost a run out! Ashwin belted it straight to the fielder at midwicket but Axar Patel was halfway down the track by the time he was sent back. Luckily Usman Khawaja was the fielder and was a little slower to whip it in to the bowler’s end and Ashwin survives. He may not survive again though – big appeal for caught behind off Kuhnemann here!
28th over: India 88-7 (Axar 8, Ashwin 3) So far in this Test series, India’s eighth wicket is being sold for 100 runs! That rearguard batting has been one of the key differences between the sides in both Tests so far. Lucky India… and poor old Ravi Ashwin – he’s got five Test centuries to his name and still has to bat No 9!
27th over: India 86-7 (Axar 7, Ashwin 2) And we’re back and it’s the man with the golden left arm, Matthew Kuhnemann, who will bowl the first over after lunch. With his tight lines, low flight and stump-to-stump accuracy, the Queensland rookie has done what he does and wait for India’s batters to get themselves out. So far it’s working. He’s got three-for. Can he nab another three?
As players resume for the second session, all the talk is of a quick Test and a poor pitch. Grumpy Grant writes in to say:
“Is this really a Test wicket? If Australia were batting then the fall
of wickets to spin would be assumed to be a result of great bowling and
Australia’s inability to play spin. But India are renowned as bowlers
and players of spin. The MCG was in danger of losing its Test status
because the pitch was so flat. Should this pitch be really judged as up
to Test level?”
I’ll leave that judgement to higher powers than I, Grant. Back to the cricket!
LUNCH: India 84 for 7 (Axar 6, Ashwin 1)
Just when you think Bazball is about as exciting as world cricket gets, Australia and India deliver a session like that! Seven Indian wickets fell, all to spin, to leave the home side a smoking ruin at 84 for 7. And that was after Mitchell Starc took a wicket with the very first ball of the Test, which was curiously given not out by the umpire and then bizarrely left unreviewed by the captain!
To have India seven down is a massive result for Australia as they hunt down a soul-salving victory in a series in which they are two-down with two to play. But as delighted as they’ll be with their morning’s work, all the lunch chatter will be filled with resolve of ‘finishing it off’. Australia have had India on the ropes before in this series, only for the likes of Ashwin and Axar to bat India out of trouble with late-order hitting.
Australia have their tail up. Now they must take India’s tail down. Can they do it? Mark Waugh reckons a 120 total is competitive on a pitch this diabolical. Rest up and refresh as you see fit. We’ll be back shortly for the second session.
26th over: India 84-7 (Axar 6, Ashwin 1) Nice touch by Steve Smith here to give Mitchell Starc the last over before lunch. The big fella will still be stewing about the two-wickets-that-were-but-weren’t in his first over of the day and if it hadn’t been for Starc’s sore digit he might’ve extended an index to the Cricketing Gods. Since then he’s watched his spinners gobble up eight wickets in this session. You can sense a bit of residual anger in his third-ball bouncer and some angst in a fifth ball near-wide down leg side. But when the last – an attempted yorker – is flat-batted back by new batter Ravi Ashwin, Starc can afford a grin. His team are well on top and there’s a big sniff of Australian victory in the air at Indore.
WICKET! Bharat LBW Lyon 17 (India 82-7)
Lyon has three! Well done Steve Smith for reviewing. Bharat had been tied down and Lyon deceived him, sending it in lower and faster and it beat bat and hit pad. Dodgy batting by India, great bowling by Lyon, inspired captaincy by Smith!
25th over: India 82-6 (Bharat 17, Axar 5) Big appeal from Lyon! But the umpire is unloved and so is the skipper. Sorry Gaz, back to yer mark! Bharat keeps glancing to that long-on boundary he cleared in the last over. Will Lyon toss up a bit of low-hanging fruit? Instead he shoots one in low and it jags back sharply – but too far? Bharat misses it and it hits pad halfway up but is it inline? There’s a huge appeal for LBW from Lyon and Carey here and Australia will review…
24th over: India 82-6 (Bharat 17, Axar 5) BANG goes Bharat! Murphy tossed his second ball up and Bharat met it on the hop and it sent it sailing over the long-on fence for the Test’s first six. That one shot doubles the runs taken from Murphy’s five overs so far but the bespectacled offie from the picturesque river town of Echuca rallies with three dots to close out the over.
23rd over: India 75-6 (Bharat 10, Axar 5) With Todd Murphy claiming the scalp of Virat Kohli for the third time in three Tests (cherish that sentence, young man), the new batter for India is Axar Patel, a real thorn in Australia’s side with bat and ball and India’s leading run-scorer in this series so far. Although he’s 29 years old, Patel has played only 10 Tests so far with no centuries so far and an average of 31. Not too flash… until you consider he’s also got 45 wickets at 15. Axar reminds Lyon his eye is in too, calmly skything his fifth ball to the rope.
WICKET! Kohli LBW Murphy 22 (India 70-6)
The King is dead! Long live Todd Murphy! Kohli looked imperious up to that point but he’s been undone by a looper that beat bat and thundered into pad right in front! Australia break through again!
22nd over: India 70-5 (Kohli 22, Bharat 9) Murphy continues, bowling tightly (just four runs from his 21 balls so far). Now he draws a big appeal for LBW against Kohli! On field decision is OUT! India will review…
21st over: India 70-5 (Kohli 22, Bharat 9) Kuhnemann returns, this time from the opposite end to where he claimed his three scalps this morning. He’s bowling to Kohli, his first ever Test wicket. But the batter 2ith 27 Test tons to his name has the measure of his third delivery, stepping back and swatting it away for a run. Bharat sees off the next two as lunch looms.
20th over: India 69-5 (Kohli 21, Bharat 9) Todd Murphy has a whip hand and it sacrifices flight to bring the ball looping in from the right paw at 90kph. Interesting bowler to watch, Murphy, with every ball different. The fifth to Kohli is slower, drifting to off and Kohli leans in and lets it fly by the edge. No risk of an edge, just seeing it safely on its way. Just a single from the over.
19th over: India 68-5 (Kohli 20, Bharat 9) Lyon is back online. After Bharat’s slog sweep in his last over, Smith has spread the field and put men at deep midwicket and long off. Lyon jags one back to Bharat and its’s clumsy enough to warrant an appeal. Umpire unmoved and ultimately so is Smith. He has two reviews in the bank (the two he foolishly saved on two wickets in the first over of the day) and he wants to use these two wisely. Just a single from this Lyon over.
18th over: India 66-5 (Kohli 19, Bharat 9) After a rush of blood to India’s collective heads and the rash of wickets that came in the aftermath, these two batters have steadied the ship with 21 runs. Kohli has been calm and patient. He has stroked two sublime boundaries but otherwise dabbed singles and darted for twos. Murphy can’t break through in the 18th but does bowl a maiden.
17th over: India 66-5 (Kohli 19, Bharat 9) Lyon to Kohli but the King, in his 107th Test, won’t be tempted as his teammates have been. Instead he works it away for a single, leaving Jadeja to uncoil an ungainly sweep which draws a lusty appeal. On field decision is NOT OUT but Australia review… unsuccessfully. Bharat adds some sting to the slap, stepping down and slog sweeping Lyon to the boundary.
16th over: India 61-5 (Kohli 18, Bharat 5) Todd Murphy is in for his chop but his radar isn’t on yet and Bharat and Kohli turn him away for three easy singles in succession. The fifth goes on with the arm and there’s an appeal for a stumping. On field decision is NOT OUT and replays confirm it
15th over: India 58-5 (Kohli 16, Bharat 4) This is Test cricket in fast forward and Thomas Walker, for one, is loving it:
“Watching live from New York at midnight in a blizzard… tough sell for my American girlfriend but she’s appreciating all the action. 5 wickets in the first hour! Much more exciting than her beloved Red Sox. The Indians are going to cause havoc for our batsmen, the bounce is all over the place. Aussie side looks a lot better with Green back in the side. This has been a great series, little bit more application from the Aussie top order and it could easily have been 1-1. Bring it on!”
Thomas, convincing your American girlfriend to watch cricket with you is the equivalent of a ‘five-for’ in any relationship! I hope you, as a loving couple, enjoyed those lovely flicked singles from Bharat and Kohli off Lyon’s bowling.
14th over: India 56-5 (Kohli 15, Bharat 3) CRACK goes Kohli! Standing tall to Kuhnemann he skips back on his toenails and leans in ever-so-slightly, rolling the wrists to spank the ball across the turf and into the rope to cheers from the Indore crowd. India are on the rack here, but while Kohli is out there India have hope of a counterattack.
13th over: India 51-5 (Kohli 11, Bharat 2) Sujit A reckons “both first innings will be finished by end of day today!” while Isaac F bemoans the state of this pitch: “The concept of a CEO pitch clearly doesn’t exist in India!” he says. “A bunsen on Day 1 with completely variable bounce, but it’s a safe bet the ICC won’t rate this as poor.” That variable bounce at last helps the batters, with a Lyon low ball flicked off the pads by Kohli to the fine leg boundary.
12th over: India 46-5 (Kohli 6, Bharat 0) What a bizarre first hour of play! Australia got two wickets in the first over but didn’t review either. India rode their luck and made them pay, flaying 27 from the next four overs. Then, with the introduction of spin, the worm turned and transformed into a cobra. It bit five times in the next five overs to send India careering to 46-5. Lyon has 2-5 and Kuhnemann 3-8!
WICKET! Shreyas b. Kuhnemann (India 45-5)
Another one gone! This time it’s the new batter Shreyas playing an audacious shot to his second delivery and getting a bottom edge which trickles into the stumps. Kuhnemann has three wickets and India are crumbling! This is crazy – the home side have lost five wickets for 18 runs, all to spin and reckless batting.
WICKET! Jadeja c. Kuhnemann b. Lyon 4 (India 44-4)
Lyon strikes again! After almost getting Jadeja LBW from the previous delivery with a ball that went on with the arm which Jadeja missed. He was caught right in front, hitting back pad on the knee roll and looked like it was taking middle stump out for dinner and a show. But a review showed Jadeja got a little edge on it. No matter! Very next ball Jadeja drove the ball hard, straight into the naval of Matt Kuhnemann at mid-on and he snaffled the catch. India four down and in trouble!
10th over: India 44-3 (Kohli 6, Jadeja 4) After new batter Ravi Jadeja peeled off a three from the last Lyon over, Kohli takes another triple from Kuhnemann’s first ball. Again, Kuhnemann bamboozles Kohli with his fifth delivery. The batter stepped way down but it sprang up on him and caught the stub of the bat and luckily went down into the pitch not up. Australia ascendent but two attacking batters at the crease for India. Tight contest here!
WICKET! Pujara b. Lyon 1 (India 36-3)
Lyon strikes with his second ball! Pujara made a mess of that, played all over it and when it spun back sharply, it squared him up, sent him back-pedalling and ultimately went straight through The Wall to skittle his stumps. Great bowling by the GOAT and Australia are on top!
9th over: India 36-2 (Pujara 1, Kohli 1) Game on at Indore! India were flaying the Australian seamers to all corners of the ground but the introduction of spin has turned the tide, with Kuhnemann claiming two scalps in two overs. Good signs for Nathan Ltyon as he rolls in for his first. Kohli picks off a single from the first ball…
8th over: India 35-2 (Pujara 1, Kohli 1) Matt Kuhnemann to Virat Kohli and the young spinner makes the master batter look a tad foolish! The offie extracted major bounce from his third ball to send the ball whistling past pad, bat and under the chin hairs of Kohli. The King’s eyes are still rolling at that one! But he scampers a single to get off the mark.
WICKET! Gill c. Smith b. Kuhnemann 21 (India 34-2)
That turned sharply from middle to off stump and Gill chased it with hard hands, flashed at it, only to catch the edge and send a catch low down to Smith at first slip who defied his sore back to scoop it up. Two wickets in eight balls for Kuhnemann! He has two wickets for one run and is bowling brilliantly.
7th over: India 34-1 (Gill 21, Pujara 1) Almost a run out! That was a very quick single called by Gill and poor Pujara – fresh to the wicket and not as sleek as he once was – was slow to answer the call. Gill was running to the danger end through and he crossed as the throw came in slightly wide… and too fast for the back up fielder who nutmegs it and has to watch it roll to the boundary. A FIVE to Gill! He’s hurt himself too, Gill, and he’s called for the medic. A lift of the shirt shows he’s taken a bit of bark off his left hip sliding for the single. The bright side is that bit of blood adds some much needed colour to an otherwise grey strip.
WICKET! Rohit stumped Carey b. Kuhnemann 12 (India 27-1)
Another mad swipe and this otime he’s three steps down the wicket when he fails to connect. Carey whips off the bails and the Indian skipper is out stumped. Good bowling change by Smith and great ball from the young Queensland offie! That was kamikaze stuff from Rohit Sharma but he’d been living dangerously – and luckily – from the first ball of the day. Good signs of spin already from this grey parchment of a pitch.
6th over: India 26-0 (Rohit 12, Gill 14) Here’s a surprise! Matt Kuhnemann, in his second Test, will bowl the sixth over of the day. Is Smith trying to buy a wicket so early here? Or does he want to take the pace off the ball and slow this torrent of runs to a trickle. Either way, Kuhnemann beats Rohit on the sweep with a ball that pitched on middle and jagged past off. The skipper’s mad swipe missed it completely and that got Australian tails a little higher.
5th over: India 26-0 (Rohit 12, Gill 14) Starc ran off the field after his first over. Maybe he needed a quick sob after watching two wickets disappear into the Indore haze. Or perhaps he was making a complaint to the match referee about the standard of umpiring? Either way he’s back for a third over and Rohit Sharma gives him fresh cause for complaint, casually stepping out to lift Starc’s third ball over long-off to the boundary. Starc shakes his head and whistles the fifth past the edge – again. That was 143km/h yet it didn’t carry to Carey who took it on the half-volley. Starc might be wicketless but he’s not hopeless. There are signs of life in this pitch.
4th over: India 22-0 (Rohit 8, Gill 14) Big edge over slips! Gill steps forward to Green’s second ball and goes full-tilt at it. It misses the sweet spot but catches the educated edge and flies over Handscomb at second slip. A bit streaky but very effective. Likewise the crisp drive through covers to the fifth ball. No luck there, just pure skill. That’s five boundaries already from India and the fourth over isn’t yet complete. Bazball must be catching…
3rd over: India 14-0 (Rohit 8, Gill 6) Starc is right on the money here, angling the ball across Sharma who is playing and missing twice in succession. The fourth ball stays low and goes under the bat. The fifth connects – and how! It’s wide and over-pitched and the India skipper pounces to crash a cut shot to the boundary. Having been dismissed twice, given not out twice and survived reviews both times, he’s clearly riding his luck. And why wouldn’t you?
2nd over: India 10-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 6) As Australian heads continue to shake under their baggy greens, Cameron Green rolls in to Shubman Gill. This is the 23-year-old Gill’s 14th Test but he only has 736 runs at 32 with just one century. He looks to be a man in form though, as he straight drives Green for four. MAGNIFICENT SHOT! And in worse news for the Australians, replays of a later Starc delivery that ducked between bat and pad show it didn’t catch the edge… but struck the pads BANG IN FRONT. Australia have claimed two wickets in one over and blown them both with poor reviewing (of poor umpiring, admittedly).
1st over: India 4-0 (Rohit 4, Gill 0) Huge appeal first ball! It’s India captain taking strike to Mitchell Starc with the big quick hoping to get his side off to a sensational start as he so often does… and he almost does! That ball was right in the channel and it almost shaved Sharma’s outside edge. Or did it? Wicketkeeper Alex Carey didn’t seem as excited as his bowler and Steve Smith opts not to review. Exciting start! GREAT BALLS OF FIRE! Replays show it got an edge! Australia coach Andrew McDonald has his head in his hands already. And now he’s wincing as Sharma smacks a four through midwicket.
Mitchell Starc reckons his finger is “good enough” to play five days Test cricket (if we get there). “If I only played when I was at 100 per cent I would have only played five or 10 Tests,” he reckons. “I’m happy with where it’s at and I’ve built up enough of a pain threshold to deal with that stuff over the past 10 or 12 years.”
With Starc and Green back in the fold, this seems a better-balanced Australian XI. Yet batting is where Australia have been found wanting on this tour.
On camera we can see the Indore wicket has a little grass back of a length but is otherwise hard dirt. Insiders say it is a tricky place to get in, but if you can survive the initial assault, runs can be abundant, particularly with such short boundaries.
Australia have been able to break through the top-order in both Tests so far but the India tail of Ashwin, Jadeja and Patel has defied them over and over. To foil such stubborn resistance, Australia has a new weapon with Mitchell Starc’s ability to extract tail-enders unmatched. The huge footmarks he creates outside the right-handers’ off stump will assist his spinner teammates too. But after months on the sideline nursing injury, will that fickle finger of Starc’s hold out?
So Australia have backed their spin trio to do the job in the third Test, with Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green back to handle the pace duties. The latter’s selection means Peter Handscomb is promoted in the batting order to No 5.
TEAMS ARE IN!
Australia XI: Khawaja, Head, Labuschagne, Smith (c), Handscomb, Green, Carey, Starc, Lyon, Murphy, Kuhnemann.
India XI: Sharma, Gill, Pujara, Kohli, Iyer, Bharat, Jadeja, Ashwin, Patel, Yadav, Siraj
India win the toss and will bat first
India captain Rohit Sharma calls correctly and backs his batters to put up a total while endorsing his spinners to grind Australia’s bones on the final day.
Before the coin toss here at Indore, there’s time to park your peepers on Geoff Lemon’s preview of the third Test…
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
Namaste comrades! Welcome to the Holkar Stadium in Indore for this third Test between India and Australia in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Unfortunately for Australia, that trophy belongs to India after two convincing victories in Nagpur and Delhi. But there is plenty yet for the green caps to play for. They can square the series with victories here and fourth Test venue Ahmedabad… although India has twice won by 10 wickets inside two days at the latter, with Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel claiming 35 of the 40 wickets on offer.
So let’s set sights a little lower: if Australia draw or win the final two Tests they can secure a spot in the World Test championship against, you guessed it, India. More vitally, they can restore some pride in the badly battered baggy green cap.
After their crazy capitulation in Delhi, Australia has been pilloried in the press and piled-on by a legion of Test greats who deplored their T20 ‘hit out until you get out’ approach and lemming-like devotion to the sweep shot. The implosion was all the more shocking for the fact Australia was firmly in the ascendency when the innings began. But it’s funny old game cricket, especially in India.
Anyway, let’s not look back in anger. Fittingly, India’s quest for a clean sweep will continue today in ‘India’s cleanest city’ on a desert-like pitch where Steve Smith reckons “we are going to see a lot of spin bowled”. Soothsayer Smith is Australia’s stand-in captain for this Test and the next, after Pat Cummins last week flew home to Sydney to be with his mother, Maria.
Also back home are the injured quick Josh Hazlewood, opener David Warner, and discarded spinner Ashton Agar. It means a reshuffled Australia XI for Indore: allrounder Cameron Green and fast bowler Mitchell Starc are expected to return from their finger injuries to bolster both batting and bowling stocks, and Travis Head will remain as Usman Khawaja’s opening partner for now. India will remain unchanged although there’s talk Shubman Gill will come in for KL Rahul, who missed the optional nets session with a niggle.
Will Australia again play three spinners in Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann? Or will a tweaker make way for seamer Scott Boland… or the only unblooded man on tour, pace prodigy Lance Morris? Can the Australian men’s side take inspiration from the T20 World Cup triumph of Meg Lanning’s team this week? Or the fighting spirit of New Zealand’s Black Caps who blew up “BazBall” to snatch an amazing one-run victory over England.
All will be revealed shortly so sit tight, we’ll soon be underway…