India No. 3 adds 199 runs with centurion Saha to give team 152-run lead; Jadeja strikes double blow as hosts sense win
The way India's seventh-wicket pair of Cheteshwar Pujara and Wriddhiman Saha batted without being separated for the first two sessions on Sunday, Steve Smith and Co. had fears of the ghosts of 2001 Kolkata Test hitting them.
Less than a week ago, the cricketing world celebrated the 16th anniversary of the greatest Indian batting partnership VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid stitched together, batting an entire day at Eden Gardens against Steve Waugh's Australia to guide India to one of their most remarkable Test victories.
This time around, the same Australians were at the receiving end of two well-settled Indian batsmen and were frustrated no end almost the entire day that saw some records tumble. Pujara and Saha batted the whole of the first and second sessions on a pitch that belied all expectations of breaking up as the match wore on. The best pitch on offer in this series so far, there was only one spot outside the right-handers' leg stump when batting from the northern end that the spinners Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe looked to exploit.
It was this spot that India's Ravindra Jadeja aimed at in the first innings and took five wickets. It was the same spot that he hit to clean bowl Australia opener David Warner late on Sunday evening to give India the belief that it can win this Test and go 2-1 up. Jadeja also dismissed nightwatchman Nathan Lyon with a classical left-arm spinner's delivery, leaving the right-hander's forward defence to unsettle the off-stump.
But India's seventh-wicket pair did not bother about the spot or anything else. Instead, Pujara and Saha batted ball-by-ball, over-by-over and session-by-session. The two joined hands at the fall of Ravichandran Ashwin's wicket on Saturday evening and went about seeing India to 603/9 declared for a first innings lead of 152.
Jadeja's deadly strikes reduced the visitors to 23/2 in their second innings. Steve Smith and Co face a daunting task of saving the Test but that looks a distant dream as Australia have another 129 to score to make India bat again on the final day on Monday.
They may seek inspiration from the way Pujara and Saha were together for five hours and 17 minutes for an all-time high seventh-wicket stand of 199 in India vs Australia Tests. Pujara's 525-ball knock of 202 in 11 hours and 12-minute stay at the crease that began 38 minutes before stumps on the second day on Friday, is the longest ever innings by an Indian batsman in terms of deliveries faced.
Pujara's great liking for Australian bowling was underlined by the fact that both his Test hundreds against the team from Down Under have been converted into double. Pujara's knock assumes greater significance here as he ensured that India took the lead and batted Australia out of the match. He did not show the urgency to play quickly. The situation did not warrant him to do so.
First and foremost, all along the season, India's scoring was boosted by Virat Kohli scoring immensely that others played second fiddle to him. However, in this series, Kohli has hit a lean patch and India needed someone to score big and continue the momentum gained in the previous three home rubbers.
The dependable Pujara is known to score big and has a special love to bat long. In the process of his knock here – his fifth 150-plus score – Pujara has upstaged Kohli for most runs this home season – 1,259 runs as against Kohli's 1,252.
Even at the slightest hint of the pitch staying good for batting, Pujara will build a mountain of runs on it. His batsmanship over the last two days was top-notch Test cricket, traditional style with putting his head over the ball and punishing only the loose deliveries while giving respect to the good ones.
The need of the hour was to stay at the crease and not any urgency in scoring runs. Nobody can complain Pujara's 38.45 scoring rate here as India first needed to surpass Australia's 451 and then build up a sizeable lead from where they could look to force a victory.
The whole season has seen India's lower-order contribute immensely to victories. This was just a continuation of that glorious feature with Saha chipping in beautifully with a career-best 117, his third Test century.
During the Pujara-Saha partnership, so desperate were the Aussies for a wicket that they exhausted their DRS inside the 20 overs of it being restored after 160 overs. They even looked silly on one occasion when they took it for a chest catch off Saha.
Once the lead was established, Pujara and Saha went for some quick runs and fell in the process. Jadeja gave the entertainment value by scoring 54 not out in 55 deliveries to bring up the declaration.
N ZONE
3
No. of double centuries Cheteshwar Pujara has scored in Test cricket: 2 against Australia and 1 against England. He has 11 first-class double tons in total
2
Only two players have scored more double centuries against Australia than Pujara's 2: Wally Hammond (4) and Brian Lara (3)
77
No. of overs bowled by Steve O'Keefe in the innings. The last time a bowler bowled 75+ overs in an innings was Ray Price against South Africa in 2001
DID YOU KNOW?
Wriddhiman Saha has now scored three Test centuries for India, the second most by an Indian wicketkeeper after MS Dhoni's six
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 "Cheteshwar Pujara-Reuters")
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