At the end of the third day of the Perth Test between the hosts Australia and the visitors India, the hosts are trying to set a challenging fourth innings total for the visitors. Australia was batting on 132/4 at the stumps of the day while they have a lead of 175 runs.
India started the day three on their overnight score of 172/3. Though the Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed in the very first over of the day, without adding any runs on his last day score (51), it didn’t affect on Kohli’s confidence who started the day on his overnight score 82 runs.
The 30-year-old right-handed batsman completed his 25th Test century in 214 balls. After completing his century, Kohli was focusing to stretch the visitors’ innings against Australia’s first innings total of 326. He had a crucial 50-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Hanuma Vihari who was dismissed on 20 off 46 balls.
After that, Kohli was busy to build up the innings with the wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant. They had a 28-run partnership for the sixth wicket and the lunch break was very close when India lost Kohli’s wicket at the crucial time in a controversial manner. The Indian skipper was dismissed on 123 runs off 257 balls (13 fours and only six).
Mohammed Shami was dismissed for a golden duck while Ishant Sharma only managed to score 1 run. Then, Pant and Umesh Yadav had a 25-run partnership for the ninth wicket before Pant was caught out for 36 runs. India was all-out for 283 runs after Jasprit Bumrah was dismissed on 4 runs while Umesh Yadav remained not out on 4 runs.
Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon picked up five wickets in that innings as his bowling figure was 34.5-7-67-5. Apart from that, the pacers Mitchell Starc (2/79) and Pat Cummins (2/66) both claimed two wickets each while Pat Cummins (1/60) got another wicket in that innings.
Australia started their second innings with a crucial 43-run lead. When Australia was on 33/0, the opener Aaron Finch was forced to retired hurt on 25 runs after he was struck on his right index finger. The tea break of the day was called up after Finch decided to walk off.
In the final session of the day, Australia lost the other opener Marcus Harris (20), no.4 batsman Shaun Marsh (5) and the next two batsmen Peter Handscomb (13) and Travis Head (19). At the stumps on day three, Australia was batting on 132/4 where Usman Khawaja was batting on 41 off 102 balls (5 fours) and the skipper Tim Paine was not out on 8 runs. The hosts are currently leading by 175 runs.
Among the Indian bowlers, Mohammed Shami (2/23) picked up two wickets while Ishant Sharma (1/33) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/25) got one wicket each.
