Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja put India into the lead with a splendid partnership on day three morning of the fourth Test match in Dharamsala, before Australia made sure the lead would not get away from them with a late flurry of wickets.
Watch India vs Australia, Day 3 live
Trailing by 52 runs to start the day, and with just four wickets in hand, all the pressure was on Saha and Jadeja to stay together until, at the very least, India went past Australia's first innings total of 300, and they did just that, and a little bit more.
While Saha was the anchor that held the 96-run partnership together, Jadeja mixed defence with aggression quite well to get those runs flowing and take India past 300.
The intent, right from the off, was a lot better. That was always likely to be the case with Jadeja, who is a naturally attacking player, at the crease, but getting the run flow was not going to be easy, considering the ball was still quite new.
There were, expectedly, quite a few good deliveries from Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, but the India batsmen played them well, with Jadeja making sure he put that bat of his to good use when the ball was pitched up – a straight drive off Cummins, in particular, caught the eye on day three morning.
Once the pace bowlers from both ends test was passed, India had to keep their focus with Nathan Lyon, who had brought Australia back into this game with his four wickets on Sunday, coming in to bowl, and they did that quite brilliantly – Smith did well, though, to keep one pacer going from the other end throughout.
Lyon was, again, getting quite a bit of bounce, and there were a couple of awkward moments there for Saha, but, again, India showed the wherewithal to get used to the bowling, before making sure the scoreboard kept ticking over, not necessarily with boundaries, but by picking up the singles and twos as well.
One of those twos got India to the lead, with a misfield from Australia, as frustration crept in, nosing the home side ahead in this contest, at least in terms of first innings runs.
Two balls later, and the sword celebration came out as Jadeja complete his second consecutive half-century, this one a whole lot more impressive than the one in Ranchi. And then, with India now firmly in the lead, Jadeja turned on the boundary-hitting style, taking Pat Cummins' short ball plan and planting it to the stands.
Next over from Cummins, however, was different, with the fast bowler hitting the stumps via an inside-edge as Jadeja (63, 95b, 4x4, 4x6) played one on while going for a big, booming drive.
Right after Jadeja's wicket, Steve O'Keefe was brought in for the first time – Smith was worried about left-hander Jadeja taking it to the left-arm spinner – and he immediately struck, inducing a drive away from the body from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0, 7b), with Smith completing a good catch at first slip.
The Australia skipper would then pluck one out of the air in the next over as a nasty short delivery from Cummins got Saha's (31, 102b, 2x4) glove, with Smith timing his jump to absolute perfection to complete a one-handed catch at second slip.
With just one wicket to go, Lunch was extended by half an hour, or until that final wicket fell. The two Yadavs – Kuldeep and Umesh (2, 8b) – hung around for a little while, before a mishit sweep from Kuldeep (7, 17b, 1x4) gave Lyon his five-for.
Scores:
First innings: Australia: 300 all out in 88.3 overs.
India: 332 all out in 118.1 overs.
First innings lead: India, 32 runs.
Bowling: First innings: Australia: Josh Hazlewood 25-8-51-1; Pat Cummins 30-8-94-3; Nathan Lyon 34.1-5-92-5; Steve O'Keefe 27-4-75-1; Glenn Maxwell 2-0-5-0.
Fall of wickets: First innings: India: 21/1, Murali Vijay (10.2 overs); 108/2, KL Rahul (40.2 overs); 157/3, Cheteshwar Pujara (61 overs); 167/4, Karun Nair (64.4 overs); 216/5, Ajinkya Rahane (79 overs); 221/6, R Ashwin (82.1 overs); 317/7, Ravindra Jadeja (112.1 overs); 318/8, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (113.5 overs); 318/9, Wriddhiman Saha (114.1 overs); 332/10, Kuldeep Yadav (118.1 overs).
