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WICKET! Khawaja c Pant c Siraj 4, Australia 17-4
Ohh, Usman Khawaja. What is that. Do you need to be taking on the short ball second over of the day, with the new ball that bounces more? He says he does. Pull shot, top edge straight up, and Pant trots back to catch it. Poor, poor dismissal.
5th over: Australia 17-3 (Khawaja 4, Smith 3) Hit on the pad first ball! Bumrah goes up! All the Indians go up! But it’s a no ball. The umpire wasn’t into it anyway, too high. Smith survives, then thrives, with a nice cover drive for three. That’s confident. Khawaja tucks a run around the corner, moving across to the off side. Runs from Bumrah? Huh.
Here we go…
Interesting little bit from Alex Carey on SEN radio this morning, saying that the main thing the remaining batters had to do was look at this as an opportunity to make runs rather than worrying about the result. Have as long a session in the middle as possible for the sake of their own games, knowing that can be beneficial for the remaining matches. Seems sensible, even if it’s not the flag-waving, save-the-day talk that some would favour.
So it will be Usman Khawaja to resume in quarter of an hour or so, having scored 3 from 9 balls, along with Steve Smith who will be on a king pair. Got out first ball in the first innings.
After that, Head, Marsh, Carey, and three of the four bowlers, with Cummins already done.
There’s always so much attention on Virat Kohli. It feels as though Australian cricket is almost as obsessed with him as Indian cricket.
Well, here’s yesterday’s century report, with a fair bit of Yashasvi Jaiswal too.
Preamble
Geoff Lemon
Good morning from Perth, good day or afternoon or evening or witching hours wherever else in the world you may be. It’s sunny, it’s wildly windy, and it’s not going to get too hot today, and India will be bowling for victory with everything stacked on their side.
Here’s the equation. Australia are 522 runs behind. Three wickets down. And they have two full days to try to survive on a wicket that has already started demonstrating the erratic bounce associated with this Perth Stadium pitch on days four and five.
Buckley’s and none.
Yes, that margin was 522, five hundred and twenty two. That’s after Jaiswal and Kohli made centuries yesterday while some teammates batted and then clattered around them.
Australia, done in, then lost three wickets by stumps: first the makeshift opener McSweeney, then the captain Cummins trying to protect his first drop Labuschagne, then Labuschagne himself.
Things have gone very badly indeed in that Australian side since they bowled out India for 150 on day one. India, meanwhile, can go into a five-Test series one-up, unless something truly bizarre happens.
What’s in it for Australia? Try to get some good time in the middle against India’s bowlers, figure out a method against Bumrah, make the opposition toil and hurt for their win.
That’s about it. The recriminations will come later, but they may be tempered or intensified by the manner in which today plays out.
Let’s see.
