Maiden Test century for Glenn Maxwell.
India captain Virat Kohli watched helplessly from the dressing room as he was still recuperating from the right shoulder injury sustained while fielding on Thursday. Kohli was not fit enough to take the ground on the second morning of the third Test here even though the BCCI late on Thursday evening said that “relevant investigations have revealed that there are no serious concerns, which will hamper his speedy recovery”. He was continuing to receive treatment and is expected to bat after sitting out for the same duration in the India innings for which he was off the field.
The wait for Kohli to bat was looking like getting longer and longer as Australia continued their supremacy over India. Resuming at 299/4, overnight not out batsmen Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell took their partnership to 191 before Jadeja dismissed Maxwell with a beautiful left-arm spinner’s delivery, turning just enough to take the outside edge on way to the wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Jadeja took two more wickets before lunch to bring India back in the game in an otherwise productive session for Australia, who were 401/7 at lunch, having added 102 and lost three wickets in 28 overs this session. Maxwell, though, duly completed his maiden Test century, reaching there with a slash over the slip cordon off Umesh Yadav for a four. There may have been some low bounce for the medium-pacers but Smith and Maxwell were not in trouble at all.
Smith continued from where he left the previous evening, reaching his sixth 150-plus score in 53 Tests and finish the session at 153*. However, when it seemed that Smith and Maxwell would bat on and on, Jadeja gave the first breakthrough of the morning in dismissing Maxwell. Jadeja began his morning spell of an impressive 12-4-26-3 with four successive maidens. Some of his deliveries turned away from the right-handers, a few others went straight but he kept one end tight.
Even on the odd occasion that left-hander Matthew Wade stepped out to Jadeja to drive through the on-side for a four, the left-arm spinner was not shaken. Wade and Smith shared 64 for the sixth wicket before Jadeja struck twice in three deliveries 10 minutes before lunch. Wade, who had used the crease to pick two boundaries off Ravichandran Ashwin, who was brought into the attack only after 20 overs, and from the northern end where the medium-pacers operated for major part of the Australian first innings. There was little help for Ashwin but Jadeja persisted with his steady line, adjusting the length to keep the batsmen guessing.
He dismissed Wade with one that did not turn and took the edge off the left-hander onto Saha’s gloves. Two balls later, he beat the forward defence of Patrick Cummins through the air and got the ball to turn to clean bowl him. However, all along, Smith marched on without trouble, the only occasion that he was lucky was when an inside edge off Ishant Sharma fell just short of Saha’s gloves. Perhaps, the India wicketkeeper could have dived forward and converted that into a catch.
Brief Score:
Australia 1st innings: 401 for 7 in 118 overs (Steve Smith 153; Umesh Yadav 2/94)
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