Cricket-Jadeja bags six as Australia take 87-run first innings lead

By Sudipto Ganguly

BENGALURU, March 6 (Reuters) - India left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja took 6-63 as Australia were dismissed for 276 with a first innings lead of 87 runs on the third morning of the second test on Monday.

Lokesh Rahul and Abhinav Mukund safely negotiated the 10 overs before lunch to give India 38-0 in their second innings, cutting the deficit to 49. Rahul was unbeaten on 20 while Mukund was 16 not out.

Resuming at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on 237-6 with a lead of 48, the touring side added 39 runs to their overnight tally before losing their last four wickets for seven runs.

India, trailing 1-0 in the four-match series, were looking to whip through Australia's lower order as quickly as possible and keep the first innings deficit to a minimum.

Lefthanders Matthew Wade and Mitchell Starc kept them at bay for the first 45 minutes of the morning session, however, extending their doughty seventh-wicket stand to 49 runs.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled over the wicket trying to hit the rough created by the bowlers' footmarks, a tactic which had brought his Australian counterpart Nathan Lyon 8-50 in the first innings.

The Australians dealt well enough with his threat before Starc perished for 26, holing out to a brilliant catch from Jadeja at the deep mid-wicket boundary.

India captain Virat Kohli, criticised on Sunday for giving Jadeja less than half the number of overs as Ashwin, finally brought the left-armer on in the ninth over of the day.

He had an almost immediate impact, trapping Wade leg before for 40 and repeating the trick with Lyon on the next ball to complete his seventh five-wicket haul in tests.

Josh Hazlewood denied Jadeja (6-63) his hat-trick but soon became the 28-year-old's sixth victim of the innings. (Editing by Nick Mulvenney)