David Warner falls cheap on the return, but Steven Smith seems to have put his problems behind him
stubs Australia 166 for 2 (Labuschagne 67 *, Pucovski 62, Smith 31 *) vs. India
Half a century from Marnus Labuschagne and Will Pucovski, the debutant, gave Australia many things they had desperately missed in the first two tests, where 200 was the highest total of innings. The two denied R Ashwin’s threat, maintained a century-long position and set the stage for Steven Smith to return to racing and put Australia in a strong position. With an unbeaten 67, a 13-point 50-plus score in the 28th inning, Labuschagne led Australia to a solid 166 for 2 on stumps after the first two sessions were severely truncated due to the weather.
As in Adelaide and Melbourne, low catches played a role in how the sessions were balanced – the two Rishabh Pant certainly put India on their back foot. Both lives were for Pucovski, on 26 and 32, and he went on to score 62 before being caught in the lbw by fellow debutant Navdeep Saini.
Shortly after Smith entered 106 for 2, India brought Ashwin back – the spinner had counted Smith twice in a row in the space of 23 balls. The tension was palpable; Ashwin, desperate, needs a try and Smith eager to go out and knock Ashwin down and wipe out his authority. Smith was almost sent off on the 26th when he went down and was hit in flight, but the ball cut off his pads and passed the hubs. And, four over later, there was an animated call for a bat-pad capture. Smith seemed fine, and Ajinkya Rahane almost called for the review beforehand, rightly, deciding against her.
Most of Australia’s heavy lifting was done in the second wicketless session, when the ball was new and Labuschagne and Pucovski were still fresh in the fold. A thrilling first hour took place with the Indian rapids hitting exact lines for the two slips and the side fields of the legs, which included a bad means for Mohammed Siraj. But the bats saw the players with alert eyes and patient leaves, without stressing about the score. Ashwin, introduced in the 14th century, was the first to create a chance while mixing things up – floating, flatter, orthodox deliveries with flights that even had a certain return – when it induced an outer edge. outside of Pucovski, but Pant put it down and Ashwin’s spell ended at 5-1-7-0.
Three innings later, Pukovsky got a glove on a short ball from Mohammed Siraj, who multiplied, and Pant ran back to catch the loops, but first he couldn’t hold on as he sank and then he didn’t. he was able to take his gloves off the ball in time as he desperately grabbed it again. Pucovski won his third life and 39 when he left for the third race, but Labuschagne sent him back and was saved only by the inaccurate throw of Jasprit Bumrah after he slipped on the field.
Until now, both bats had their eyes inside, the ball was no longer new and the sun had elbowed the clouds. After 18 minutes, Labuschagne sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. When Ashwin was right, Labuschagne carefully closed the bat’s face with soft hands and deftly evaded the short wait for the short leg and the slip of the foot again. In the last final before tea, Pukovsky greeted Saini with a fierce cut and a strong attraction for four consecutive steps to bring half a century, while they scored 46 innings in the ten innings before the break to push the score rate up.
However, Pukovsky lasted only ten deliveries after the tea, when Saini managed to win it, but Australia quickly passed three figures, with the second batch of 50 races, which came out at only 58 deliveries after the first took 140. Labuschagne dug and punished Siraj deliveries for four to pass 50, while Smith collected three fours in the space of four deliveries from Bumrah and Saini to compete in 13 of 11, which set the tone for the halves, which reached 31 hubs.
Earlier, Rain ate a lot of overs after allowing just 35 minutes of play in the first session, after Australia opted for the bat. The hosts were supported by the return of David Warner, who was clearly less than 100% in his run between the counters. He was also unusually out and one of them led to his dismissal when he flashed twice in a row and on the second try, he received a thick edge to fall 5 from Siraj. It was Warner’s lowest score at home since November 2016, also the last time he scored with a single digit in a test on Australian soil.
Vishal Dikshit is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo