It was a fairy tale start for India on Day 3 as Ishant picked up Mitchell Marsh & Aaron removed Haddin in the first half an hour of play. India were in a position to secure a lead from here but Australia counter attacked & ended their innings with a handy lead of 97. These 97 runs might just prove to be the difference between victory & defeat.
Resuming at the overnight score of 221/4, Australia lost two quick wickets early into Day 3. However, captain Steven Smith continued with his good form and struck his second successive century. In the process, Smith (133) became the ninth Australian captain to hit a ton on captaincy debut. Smith received some much needed support from Johnson who scored an entertaining 88. Meanwhile, Indian bowlers struggled to get rid of the Aussie tail which propelled the home team to 505 in the first innings. The duo of Vijay & Dhawan provided India a cautious start before Vijay fell to Starc. India reached 71/1 at the end of day's play with Dhawan and Pujara at the crease. India now trail Australia by 26 runs with 9 wickets remaining.
Weather forecast for Day 4 suggests partly cloudy conditions with medium chances (40%) of showers. Winds of about 15-20 kmph will continue to blow from the south-east direction. Showers, if any, are expected only late in the afternoon.
Coming back to the day's play, India did well to strike twice in the first hour making inroads into the Aussie tail. But some misdirected aggression from the young members of the Indian team charged Mitchell Johnson to play what may go down as one of his greatest Test innings. Johnson was involved in a defying 144-run stand with captain Smith for the seventh wicket. The pair conjured a rescue act to save Australia while they were looking right down the gun barrel. Even after grabbing Johnson & Smith in quick successions, Indian bowlers had a hard time getting rid of the Aussie tail with Starc scoring a crucial 52 to guide the hosts past 500.
The visitors received an early setback in their second innings with in-form opener Murali Vijay playing one on to the stumps. Vijay had done well to settle in before he misjudged one from Starc. Dhawan & Pujara did well to end the day for India without any further casualties. The first hour of play on Day 4 will provide a clear picture about the state of the match. A healthy partnership between Dhawan & Pujara will surely help India bounce back. However, if the Aussie pace men strike early, the situation will worsen for India. An exciting Day 4 awaits Test cricket aficionados. Like always, Skymet will keep you updated on the proceedings at Brisbane.
Day 3
It was not the kind of start, which India had hoped for. The atmosphere was heavier than it had been on day one, rain threat hang in the air, making it ideal for swing and combine that with a pitch that had dried and quickened appreciably, it made for ideal pace bowling Australian pacers were in no mood to oblige Indian batsmen any more.
Though, Rahane got a peach of delivery from Hazlewood & Watson was given a gift by Rohit Sharma, who squandered another decent start, by chasing a delivery pitched on fifth & missing sixth. He is certainly testing Indian selector’s patience. From 311 for 4, India lost both the overnight batsmen in space of 50 balls & 17 runs. India was down & sinking! After a spirited union between Dhoni & Ashwin, which yielded a half century, Indian tail was not allowed to wag & Indians promptly folded up for 408, losing 6 for 87 in the pre-lunch session.
Earlier, Dhoni began bent upon proving that cricket ball can do him no harm, taking blows on the body & hardly flinching when struck. His barely visible evasive action for the blow on the shoulder by Mitchell Johnson had the umpire Marais Erasmus calling it dead ball, much to the chagrin of Dhoni who ran & got in an agitated discussion with the umpire. Once again, Ashwin proved, if ever a proof was required, that he is much under rated batsman in test cricket, though same can’t be said about his ‘antics’ as a batsman in ODIs or T-20s. However, both got out a tad unluckily but not before adding a useful 57 runs. Aaron was taken at short leg and the half-hour extension was just enough for Nathan Lyon to also account for Yadav.
Warner seemed to take off from where he left in Adelaide, helped generously by India's strange tactics of bowling around the wicket to him. He galloped to 29 in 27 balls, but perished in attempting a shot too many. Reckless shots meant that Warner and Watson both wasted strong starts, and Rogers was certainly cramped and then caught by MS Dhoni from the fast and furious Umesh Yadav. Much now depended on the new captain Steven Smith, at the crease on 6.
Rain clouds were gathering, when Dhoni introduced Ashwin and kept mid-on up as Watson tried to heave the bowler down the ground, Dhoni was to be rewarded for this when Watson did not get all of his attempted strike, Dhawan taking the catch and Virat Kohli screaming in delight as an inconsolable Watson dragged himself off. Chris Rogers was caught behind on the stroke of tea to leave Australia on tenterhooks after Hazlewood's ‘fifer’ on debut restricted India to 408 on day two of the second Test in Brisbane.
That brought Shaun Marsh to the middle for the first time in a home Test since his horrid series against the same opposition in 2011-12, but he looked in fine nick until top edging a pull at Aaron that Rahane never looked like taking & made a futile grab at it. India's chagrin was brief, however, as Marsh angled his bat at a rapid delivery from Umesh and was taken by a lunging Ashwin in the slips, making full use of his six feet. At the end of day two, it is advantage India, though ever so slight, quite contingent on first hour’s play on day 3,as a three wicket haul by the speedster Umesh Yadav left the captain Steven Smith a little short of support than he would have liked.
Thunderstorms gathered all day but it was ultimately poor light that brought the day to an early close, even tomorrow showers are expected late in the day.
Day 2
As predicted by Skymet, thunderstorms did hit Brisbane on Day 1 of the second Test, but not before stumps. Weather forecast for Day 2 also suggests that rain may interrupt play for a while or so. Apart from late thunderstorms, the conditions at Gabba remained hot & humid.
Capitalizing on the good start offered by the top order, India will look to pile up more runs on Day 2 with the likes of Dhoni & Ashwin still to come. Rahane & Rohit Sharma will look to maintain the flow of runs with the former edging close to his 3rd Test hundred. Meanwhile, Australian bowlers will hope to find rhythm in order to restrict India to a not-so-formidable looking first innings total. How the story at Gabba pans out, remains to be seen. As always, Skymet will keep you updated on the weather conditions & match status at Brisbane.
Day 1
Test cricket was restored to its esteem stature with the Adelaide Test turning out to be an absolute thriller. Kohli's aggressive approach combined with team India's go for the kill tactic resulted in a perfect ice-breaker post the tragic Phil Hughes incident. But now the teams move to more 'down-under' like conditions as India take on Australia at Brisbane next. Captain cool MS Dhoni is back while Aussie captain Michael Clarke will not be playing in the remainder of the series due to a serious hamstring injury. Young gun Steven Smith has been named the replacement captain as both teams are expected to make subtle changes in their line-up.
The Indian batsmen will face some serious challenge at Brisbane as the green topped Gabba will offer both pace and bounce to the faster bowlers. The weather at Brisbane is expected to be bright & sunny with the exception of occasional showers in the afternoon. Despite a shower forecast, the game is expected to experience very little or no delay for the next five days.
Australia have added fresh armament to their speed arsenal with speedster Mitchell Starc making a comeback to the squad. Also, a lot is expected from young pace man Josh Hazlewood who is known to utilize green turfs to his advantage. Most probably, both Ryan Harris & Peter Siddle will be omitted from the playing XI for the second Test. Apart from the faster bowlers, off-spinner Nathan Lyon will look to exploit India's growing weakness against off-spin as the turf continues to slow down marginally.
The Indian batsmen looked solid at Adelaide with all the top order batsmen entering double figures. Stand-in captain Virat Kohli's back to back hundreds, along with patient half-centuries from other top order batsmen, announced the arrival of a refurbished Indian batting line-up. But Gabba will test the patience and technique of the Indian batsmen with short rising ones whizzing past the stumps every now and then. The top order will have to deal with the new ball without compromising on the scoring rate. Meanwhile, the Indian bowling attack will also look to exploit the pace-friendly conditions at Brisbane. Hopefully, the likes of Ishant, Shami, & Aaron will taste success early into their spells. Experienced spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is expected to replace an out-of-place & ineffective Karn Sharma for the second Test.
As the action unfolds, Skymet will keep you updated on the proceedings at Brisbane.
India Playing XI (Probables): Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and Varun Aaron.
Australia Playing XI (Probables): Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steven Smith (c), Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, and Mitchell Starc.