Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul shine as India fight back against Australia

Bengaluru: Cheteshwar Pujara struck an unbeaten 79 as Indian batsmen gave a far better account of themselves to keep the hosts afloat by taking a 126-run lead on another captivating day in the second Test against Australia at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, on Monday.

At stumps on the third day, India were 213 for 4 in their second innings and had erased a first innings deficit of 87.

The side is now looking good to post a fighting score for the visitors on a crumbling surface.

Australia had scored 276 in their first innings with left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja returning with best figures of 6 for 63 among the bowlers.

Pujara showed admirable temperament and was helped by flamboyant opener Lokesh Rahul's (51) second half-century of the match.

The unbroken 93-run fifth-wicket partnership between Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane (40 batting) could prove to be a defining one.

This was also the first time in the series that India managed to pull through a session without losing any wicket.

Pujara played 173 balls, hitting six boundaries while Rahane also consumed 105 balls to hit three boundaries.

Lot of credit should be given to Rahul, who played both pacers and spinners well during his 85-ball knock that had four boundaries.

It took an absolute blinder from Australian skipper Steve Smith at first slip to remove Rahul, who also completed 1,000 Test runs in his career.

Rahane, on his part, is playing one of the most crucial knocks of his career under pressure, displaying good technique and sound temperament needed in this scenario.

The duo had come to the crease when India were 120 for 4 with only a 33-run lead and six wickets in hand.

With three successive innings being a saga of middle and lower-order collapse, Pujara and Rahane showed a judicious blend of caution and aggression in their strokeplay.

Knowing fully well that defending on this track would be out of question, both the batsmen kept the scoreboard ticking with a fair amount of singles and doubles.
Importantly, both played the spin duo of Nathan Lyon (0/69 in 27 overs) and Steve O'Keefe (1/28 in 16 overs) well.

Lyon again got turn and bounce but the strategy to wait for the off-break to turn helped them negate his threat.

For a change, they didn't play O'Keefe for the turn and that helped them negotiate the left-armer better.

For Australia, Josh Hazlewood (3/57 in 16 overs) was the pick of the bowlers. He cleaned up Abhinav Mukund (16) and Ravindra Jadeja (2), who was sent up the order to prop up the scoring.

Skipper Virat Kohli (15) fell to a debatable DRS decision, where the ball kept low and the replays were inconclusive as to whether it grazed the base of his bat.

For India, a target of 200 plus is something that they would be initially looking for and a 250-run target could well prove to be a winning score on a fourth or fifth day track.

India had begun their second innings on a positive note going into lunch at 38 for no loss.

Mukund fell just after lunch having put on 39 runs from 64 balls with Rahul for the opening wicket.

Unlike his first innings, Mukund showed glimpses of confidence, even as he smashed a boundary and a six off Mitchell Starc. When he departed, the Indian opener had scored 16 runs off 32 balls compared to his zero in the first innings.

Rahul has been one of the better performers of the Indian side this series. In an interesting move, Jadeja was sent ahead of Rahane, a move that backfired badly.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Jadeja grabbed three wickets in 10 balls to polish off the Australian tail as India bowled out the visitors for 276 in their first innings.

Jadeja removed wicketkeeper Matthew Wade (40), Nathan Lyon (0) and Josh Hazlewood (1) in quick succession after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Mitchell Starc as the first wicket of the third morning session.

Australia took a crucial first innings lead of 87 runs on an unpredictable pitch. The visitors took to the field on Monday with a desire to consolidate on their overnight score of 237 for six, but could add only 39 runs in 16.4 overs while losing four wickets.

After the departure of Starc, Australia lost their remaining three wickets for just seven runs in 4.4 overs, with Jadeja claiming all of them.

At one stage, Jadeja was on a hat-trick after he removed Wade and Lyon in consecutive deliveries of his fourth over of the day. But Hazlewood denied him the feat as the Australian took a single with a defensive push.

Jadeja though had the last laugh as he removed Hazlewood in his next over as the batsman attempted a big swipe, only to end up skying it to long-on for Lokesh Rahul to take the catch. Jadeja ended with innings figures of 6 for 63 in 21.4 overs.

Before Jadeja ran through the Australian tail, Ashwin picked up the first wicket of the day by sending back Mitchell Starc for 26. Starc was holed out in the deep with Jadeja taking the catch. Ashwin ended with innings figures of 2 for 84 from 49 overs.