Ind vs Aus 4th Test Day 3 Highlights: Kuldeep Yadav has taken three wickets thus far. (AP Photo)Ind vs Aus 4th Test Day 3 Highlights: India were chipping away at the Australian batting lineup when the clouds over Sydney stepped in and called for an end to the proceedings on Saturday.
Never before have India ended the third day of a Test match in Australia looking so assured of clinching the series and even winning the match. Australia, who are trailing the four-match Test series 2-1, have ended the rain-curtailed third day on 236/6, trailing India by a whopping 386 runs.
STUMPS!
Rain has claimed the rest of Day 3 and so we will start Day 4 about half an hour early. That means play will start at 4.30am IST or 11pm GMT on Sunday.
Play interrupted by bad light
Light has deteriorated quite a bit and the umpire's have decided to take the players back into the safety of their dressing rooms. Rain is definitely about to hit the SCG. The aforementioned Women's Big Bash League match that was happening 8 kilometres away has been called off.
India lose a review
LBW appeal against Handscomb off Jadeja, umpire shakes his head and India review. Impact is called umpire's call but the ball was already looking like it was straying outside leg when it made an impact with the pad. I
Spinners continue
The pacers have been completely taken off and its Jadeja and Kuldeep alternating. Kuldeep bowled a fullish delivery outside off that beat Cummins, went through the legs of the keeper and ran behind for 4 byes. Those were the first runs he conceded in 20 deliveries.
Australia's deficit goes below 400
Sony is showing visuals of Shane Warne having a chat with Kuldeep before the day's play. He has bowled 23 overs so far and new ball has not been taken yet.
Kuldeep spinning a web
Length ball, outside off spins into Handscomb and beats him completely. Misses the stumps though and Handscomb has a wry smile on his face.
India on the hunt
Pat Cummins, who has been Australia's most reliable batsman in this series, is in and the first match is in and he survives an LBW appeal from Kuldeep and later Jadeja. He follows up the latter with a four through the offside. Australia 208/6
OUT! PAINE CLEANED UP
Kuldeep sends it through Tim Paine's drive and the ball spins through him and onto the leg stump. The ball had pitched outside off and spun all the way in. Paine was stuck in the crease, no feet movement at all, Australia are 198/6
TEA! 198/5
This has been India's session. Three wickets fell, including that of Marcus Harris who was looking pretty good in the first session. Australia trail by 424 with five wickets left.
Captain Paine
Gets off the mark with a four off Bumrah. It is the 68th over of the innings and it should be the last before Tea.
OUT! AUSTRALIA LOSE HEAD
Brilliant catch by Kuldeep off his own bowling! Head comes down the track to take it on the full and hits it straight back to the bowler, Kuldeep gets down in time to grab on to the ball. Australia 192/5.
Bumrah
He has not got a wicket yet but it looks like only a matter of time before he does. Head and Handscomb aren't exactly looking comfortable in the middle. There have been quite a few play-and-misses, lbw appeals and the works.
The weather
The Women's Big Bash League match between Sydney Thunder and Melbourne Stars has been delayed by rain. That match is taking place at the North Sydney Oval which is about 8 kilometres away from the SCG. There are clouds hovering over this match but no rains yet.
OUT! Rahane takes a stunner!
India have planned Labuschagne out of the game. Kohli placed a squarish short mid-on for Labuschagne, Shami bowls it full on the right-hander's pads and he flicks it to that part of the field. Rahane reacts instantly, dives low to his left and completes the catch. Brilliant work from the Indian vice-captain.
Labuschagne continues to attack
He is scoring at a good pace and is looking to put the pressure back on the Indians. Australia have moved beyond the 150-run mark.
OUT! Jadeja gets his second
Shaun Marsh hangs his bat out at a delivery, playing for a spin that isn't there, catching practice for Rahane at first slip. India making inroads in this session. Australia 144/3
Australia 144/2
Labuschagne taking the attack to the opposition. Gets a four off Shami and then gets two more off Jadeja in the next over. He has now made 85 off 30 balls. Shaun Marsh, meanwhile got off the mark with this beauty.
WICKET! Harris goes!
Jadeja gets the first wicket of the post-Lunch session! Harris chops on and that means he won't be getting a maiden Test century in this innings at least. Australia 128/2.
LUNCH!
A good session for Australia, 98 runs have come off it for the loss of 1 wicket. Harris on 77, Labuschagne on 18, Australia are 122/1.
Australia race past 100
That was rather quick. Harris has led the way so far and the two batsmen are attacking Kuldeep and Jadeja in particular but the former has copped it well. Even contest so far.
Marnus Labuschagne
He has just given Harris competition for shot of the day. It was a fullish delivery in the slot from Kuldeep, Labuschagne muscles the ball through the covers with a lovely drive. It is a good batting display so far from the embattled hosts.
DRINKS
Australia are 80/1 in 25 overs, Harris on 50, Labuschagne on 3 56 runs and one wicket have come off the first 15 overs of the session. This is how Harris got to his 50 and Shane Warne thinks this is the shot of the day. Hard to argue with him.
50 for Harris
He has arguably looked the most solid among all the Australian batsmen throughout the series but hasn't been able to convert those starts. Today is the best opportunity he has to make a mark and he has done pretty well. It's taken just 67 deliveries for him to get to his half century.
Labuschagne gets yorked
Bumrah bowls the next over, Harris takes a single off the second ball and brings Labuschagne on strike. The first ball that the fresh-faced no. 3 faces is the kind of yorker that Bumrah belts in during the death overs of a T20 match. He somehow digs it out of the ground.
OUT!
Khawaja continues with his positive approach and succumbs to it, Kuldeep Yadav gets his first wicket in Australia. He comes down the track and tries to smoke it through the leg side, ends up hitting it straight to the fielder at mid-on.
Pant-o-phone
No chirping towards the batsmen directly but Pant is ensuring that he is screaming praise for the bowlers and no easy runs right in the batsman's ear.
Pink day
Today is Pink Day at the SCG, and Aussie pace legend Glenn McGrath collected pink caps from the two teams that would be auctioned off later. The event is in honour of McGrath's late wife Jane and funds that will be collected from the auction will go to the McGrath Foundation, a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia, which raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia and increases the awareness about the disease. The two teams did what they could to support the cause before the start of day's play. In the commentary box, Shane Warne must have echoed what a number of Australian fans were feeling when he said that McGrath could go easy on handing out his "Good Luck" to the Indians.
Indian fans of a certain generation would remember a time when positive words were hardly what opposition players got when Glenn McGrath opened his mouth back in his day.
Harris on 42
It has been an entertaining watch so far. Khawaja brought out the reverse sweep twice on Jadeja, the first being a dot and the second running away to the backward point boundary.
The openers take on Jadeja and Shami
Australia race past the 50-run mark with Khawaja and Harris smashing their way through the last two overs. They hit two fours from the last two overs each and are 57/0.
Harris survives
Harris comes down the track for Jadeja and tries to hit it through mid-on, Rahul dives to his right to get to it. It was an unbelievable effort and it looked like it carried but Rahul himself admitted that it did not.
Pujara
He mesmerized MCG and the rest of the cricketing world for a better part of the first two days of this match. But the person who has shaped his batting technique, his father and coach Arvind, was not able to watch what was his son's, and Indian cricket's, most significant innings. Cheteshwar knew his father was getting a cardiac catheterisation to regularize his heart’s rhythm and still kept his focus on the pitch of the SCG. READ MORE
Hello and Welcome!
If Australia thought that Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara's Melbourne vigil was bad, it was made to look like a bed of roses by the Indian lower middle order yesterday at the SCG. Every partnership crossed the 100-run mark while Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja put up over 200 runs for the seventh wicket.
Australia start Day 3 on 27/0 chasing a target of 622 runs. Khawaja and Harris in the middle, Bumrah to bowl the first over.