Nathan Lyon led the way with the ball for Australia picking up a magnificent 8-64, his second-best Test figures, as India were bowled out for just 163, setting Australia a target of 76 to seal a famous win.
For India, Cheteshwar Pujara led the way with a masterclass on a spinning pitch, scoring 59 and dragging India along with him even as he kept losing partners at the other end. His defiance was ended by a moment of brilliance from Steve Smith, at leg slip, topping off a great day out for him as a captain.
Marshalling his resources expertly, Smith did not allow the game to drift away and kept making changes to his bowling attack to not allow the batters to get on top. His moves paid off well when Shreyas Iyer, who had counterattacked with a 27-ball 26 against the spinners, fell as soon as the pacer was brought on, with Usman Khawaja taking a sharp chance at midwicket.
This stemmed any momentum that India had a little into the third session, before the lower order capitulated on a raging turner, with the innings ending eerily similar to how it started with Mohammad Siraj swinging wildly against Lyon to be bowled.
It had started in similar fashion with Lyon getting past a wildly swinging Shubman Gill in the first over after the Lunch break. While Rohit Sharma kept Pujara company for 58 balls, he too copped one that shot through a tad low from Lyon and was out LBW, with DRS too going against his wishful call. Virat Kohli had a nervy stay in the middle getting past a few close shaves, but on 13 after he had slapped a short ball from Matthew Kuhnemann to the cover boundary, he tried to pull one and was trapped LBW again. The trend continued minutes before Tea, when Lyon ended Ravindra Jadeja’s dogged 36-ball stay getting him out LBW with the aid of a review.
All through this, Pujara managed to be more confident with his footwork drilling a couple of drives to keep the scoreboard ticking along and shaving off the deficit, and briefly along with Iyer India threatened to take a significant lead, with the No.3 registering his 35th Test fifty in the process. However it all came to a rapid halt thanks to some relentlessly accurate spin bowling from Australia.
Earlier in the day, despite a collapse that saw Australia lose their last six wickets for 11 runs, the visitors finished with a possibly pivotal lead of 88 runs.
Starting the day with a lead of 47, Cameron Green and Peter Handscomb made it Australia’s first hour seeing it out without much problem. India opted to start with their two left-arm spinners after a brief spell from Mohammed Siraj in that hour and it did not yield the desired results.
Both Handscomb and Green used their long reach to smother the spin and defend confidently, and ground the attack out while adding 30 invaluable runs through that hour.
However, things took a drastic turn after R Ashwin and Umesh Yadav started operating in tandem in the second hour. Ashwin was the first to get the breakthrough having Handscomb caught at short leg and breaking a stoic partnership worth 40 in 134 balls.
In the next over Umesh hit Green on the backfoot and had an LBW decision upheld by the barest of margins as the batter reviewed. This was followed by a demolition job of the tail with Umesh sending the stumps flying to send back Todd Murphy and Mitchell Starc, while Ashwin cleaned up Lyon who missed a big sweep.
The collapse saw Australia lose six wickets in less than half an hour, giving India a slight opening but Lyon and Co. ensured that there was no let-up.
Brief Scores: India 109 (Virat Kohli 22; Matthew Kuhnemann 5-16, Nathan Lyon 3-35) and 163 all out (Cheteshwar Pujara 59; Nathan Lyon 8-64) lead Australia 197 (Usman Khawaja 60, Marnus Labuschagne 31; Ravindra Jadeja 4-63, R Ashwin 3-44, Umesh Yadav 3-12) by 75 runs.
