The Indian youngsters came up with their guns ready against the human Aussies as all of them made valuable contribution, scored with a run rate almost nearing 4 and lost only 5 wickets. The Aussies showed how the bouncer still hurts them more than anyone else as they helped Kohli recover from the high ball he accepted on his helmet on the first ball he faced. Johnson did not attack the body through out the day. Three of them scored the half-century but only Captain Kohli can score the century and lead into a not-known zone, the comfortable zone.
2014-2015 Indian Tour of Australia: Schedule
Stats on Day 3
- Kohli became the 4th Indian captain to score century in his debut test as captain. Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar also scored centuries in first innings, while Dilip Vengasarkar scored century in second innings.
Kohli scored his 7th test century.
50s: 7th for Vijay, 6th for Pujara and 5th for Rahane in Test matches.
101 run partnership for 4th wicket between Kohli and Rahane.
Australia declared at overnight score and the third day saw Indian youngsters starting their overseas campaign. Dhawan attacked from the word go and scored 24-ball 25 runs. But was unfortunately got an inside nick on the bowling of Harris. Murali Vijay scored 53 runs to give India a start they needed for the challenging tour. But a threatening spell by Johnson finally saw him caught behind. He added 81 runs with Pujara for 2nd wicket.
Pujara was joined by captain Kohli. The first ball saw Kohli misjudge the bounce and hit on helmet. Johnson, the bowler was the first to rush to him. Umpire and other Aussies rushed to see if he was fine. Kohli recovered from shock. But rest of the day did not see Johnson recovering from the memory of bouncer that got Phil. He was neither attacking the body nor there was any sledging throughout the day.
After that both added 81 runs for the third wicket when troubled by Lyon, Pujara finally lost the battle scoring 73 runs, his second highest Away score in test matches. Rahane, the most successful Indian batsmen in the last one year in away test matches, joined Kohli. He scored an aggressive 62 runs and added 101 runs for 4th wicket. Impressive Lyon got him too as Rahane had to nick an unplayable ball.
Rohit, Sharma joined Kohli and both added 74 runs for the 5th wicket when Kohli lost patience after scoring his 7th test century and with 3 more overs remaining for the day. He was caught by Harris of the bowling of Johnson after scoring 115 runs. Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha joined Rohit and Johnson had a bouncer to welcome him. Saha was left shocked but survived. After that both survived the scare of last few overs and playing 97 overs India finished the Day 3 at 369/5.
For Australia, Harris was the most impressive bowler with 1/49 in 17 overs. Siddle was ineffective with 0/62 in 13 overs. Mitch Marsh contained the runs with 0/29 in 11 overs. Watson also troubled the batsmen with 0/13 in 5 overs, while Steven Smith leaked 19 runs in 3 overs. Johnson did grab 2 important wickets but had to for 90 runs in 18 overs, very expensive by test standards. Lyon was the pick of the bowlers grabbing 2/103 in 30 overs and troubling all the batsmen, except Murali Vijay.
At the end of Day 3, India still trail by 148 runs. Considering how India needed just 2-3 sessions in Away matches to fold and how at Adelaide on 4th and 5th Day wickets tend to fall faster, the match cannot be still considered a draw. But no doubt Indian youngsters have certainly fought much better.
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