“But saying that, I think we’ve bowled well in two lots to restrict them to 240 all day”. They’ve had a knack of someone putting their hand up right at the point of despair and it was Nathan Lyon, Australia’s off-spinner, coming to the party after Tea.
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Mumbai: Kuldeep Yadav’s childhood coach, Kapil Pande, who watched him pick up four wickets in the Dharamsala Test, believes that the 22-year-old should have been picked for the Indian national team much earlier.
“I went back to how I bowl (at home)”.
The Day 2 was once again an example that when you play yourself in on a wicket at Dharamsala, you have to make it count by turning up a few gears and scoring at a brisk rate. “The stage is really set now for a fantastic fourth test match and the guys are really excited by that”.
Warner brought up his first fifty of the series after Smith had reached his own, before Kuldeep led India’s fightback after lunch with brilliant display of wrist-spin bowling.
Lyon spun a web through the stout Indian bats to claim four wickets and leave the series delicately poised.
It was his second missed catch of the day, and denied Australia an immediate breakthrough upon taking the second new ball.
But Josh Hazlewood (1-40) had managed to get Murali Vijay (11) caught behind after consistently troubling him with bounce and movement on the off-stump. The seamers took full advantage of the pace and bounce available on the track, and masterfully aimed for the cracks to continuously seek the edges.
Despite not being among the runs, Virat Kohli’s presence itself has been quite inspiring for India, but Kohli missing the final Test, Rahul insisted, was an opportunity for the rest of the team to step up and be counted.
KL Rahul, when he first appeared on the worldwide scene, was a compact batsman with a tight defence. “He would not want another player in the team to hide an injury and then later found out (about an injury) because it is a five-day Test”, Gavaskar said. At 108/1, India looked to take hold of the game but were pulled back down. Lyon said he was hopeful Australia could wrap up India’s innings and gain a slight lead.
The second-wicket partnership was worth 87 runs and was looking ominous until Rahul went for a wild hook, with the bouncer hitting the toe end of his bat before finding David Warner at mid off.
“I bowled to Smith for the first time and I did not have any difficulty as he was not playing any strokes against me”.
KL Rahul was bounced out by Pat Cummins for 60 and then Cheteshwar Pujara (57) and Ajinkya Rahane (46) were snuffed out by Lyon in quick succession.
The bounce that was on offer made him feel that he is closer home.
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Ashwin made 30 before he was trapped leg-before by Lyon.
