Indore: Australia bowled out India for 109 in the first innings just after the start of the second session in the third test in Indore.
Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann took a maiden five-wicket haul.
Kuhnemann finished with figures of 5/16 from nine overs while Nathan Lyon took 3/35 as India batters struggled on a challenging pitch in Indore. Virat Kohli’s 22 was the top individual score of their innings that lasted 33.2 overs.
After just five overs of pace, Australia brought in left-arm spinner Kuhnemann who got rid of both India openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill inside his first two overs.
And from there on, wickets started going down like nine pins. Soon India were reduced to 45/5 before a little partnership between Virat Kohli and Srikar Bharat. But the procession resumed once Kohli departed. This was after India captain Rohit won the toss for the first time in this series and expectedly opted to bat first at the Holkar Stadium. The hosts have made a couple of changes with KL Rahul being dropped while Mohammed Shami rested.
In their place, they have included Shubman Gill and Umesh Yadav. Australia too have a couple of changes with Pat Cummins and Matthew Renshaw replaced by Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green. The series began in Nagpur before moving north in Delhi and now it’s headed to the centre of India in Indore for the third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
India will bring with them a 2-0 lead and loads of confidence at the Holkar Stadium and start favourites against Australia who after briefly showing some life in the national capital, find themselves on the brink of another series defeat.
The tourists are without their regular captain Pat Cummins who is in Australia due to personal reasons and hence the reins have been handed over to Steve Smith who himself is struggling to get going on pitches that have been quite challenging for batters. However, they shouldn’t have been as difficult as it has looked for someone of Smith’s calibre who in the past has shown his class on spin-friendly tracks. On the other hand, for India, it’s been business as usual.
