IN PICS: India need 87 more runs to win series

Sport360 staff 16:46 27/03/2017

India find themselves in the driver’s seat after superb performances from their bowlers on day three of the fourth Test against Australia at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala.

The hosts started the day 52 runs behind Australia’s first innings total and the deficit was soon erased after some aggressive batting from Ravindra Jadeja who was well supported by Wriddhiman Saha.

Jadeja went on to notch up his seventh Test fifty before getting dismissed for 63. The Saurashtra all-rounder and Saha had added 96 crucial runs for the seventh wicket by then.

India were finally bowled out for 332, getting a first innings lead of 32 runs.

Nathan Lyon was the pick of the Australian bowlers, clinching five wickets. Pat Cummins also impressed, taking three wickets.

Coming out to bat in their second innings, the Australians would have wanted to hand India a tricky fourth innings target but they failed to do so as they were bowled out for just 137.

The Indian bowlers were brilliant, from Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the new ball to the spin twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja later in the innings.

Umesh, Ashwin, and Jadeja accounted for three scalps each while Bhuvneshwar took the crucial wicket of Steve Smith.

Amidst all the chaos, Maxwell tried to take the game to the Indian bowlers, playing a counter-attacking knock, before being dismissed for 45.

Chasing a target of 106, Indian openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay made it to the end of the day without losing their wickets and the score reading 19-0.

BRIEF SCORES

Australia 300 all out [Smith 111, Wade 57, Kuldeep 4-68] and 137 all out [Maxwell 45, Jadeja 3-24, Umesh 3-29, Ashwin 3-29] lead India 332 all out [Jadeja 63, Rahul 60, Lyon 5-92] and 19-0 [Rahul 13*] by 86 runs.

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