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India have set their sights on taking back the lead at Melbourne after losing the second Test to Australia. India made the intent clear even before the match by dropping both the openers - Murali Vijay and KL Rahul. Mayank Agarwal who made his debut as an opener gave India a good start with a handy half-century.
On a pitch on which runs were difficult to accumulate, Cheteswara Pujara and Virat Kohli put together a match-defining 170-run partnership for the third wicket. While Kohli and Pujara got out for 82 and 106 within quick succession, Rohit Sharma ensured that India went close to 450-mark by scoring his first overseas half-century since August 2015.
Australian batsmen in pursuit of nearing India's total of 433 were completely out of place. Indian bowlers were consistent with their lines and lengths and were duly rewarded for that. While Ishant Sharma dealt the first blow, it was Jasprit Bumrah who stole the show in the first half of Day 3.
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The highlight of Bumrah's bowling was the wicket of Shaun Marsh that grabbed a lot of attention. Australia's most experienced Shaun Marsh had to face the task of seeing off Jasprit Bumrah but things did not go as planned for the southpaw. Burmah after bowling 5 five balls at more than 140kmph, Bumrah bowled an excellent 111kmph yorker. Marsh failed to pick up the slower one giving India their fourth wicket in the first session.
While Shaun Marsh's wicket was the highlight of Burmrah's bowling, his first wicket came in the form of Marcus Harris. Bumrah was relentless in his first spell of the day and a bouncer to Harris gave him his first wicket. The left-handed batsmen in an attempt to pull the short ball top-edged it to Ishant Sharma who did the rest of the job.
After denting the hopes of Australian fans before lunch, Bumrah was at it again in the second session. With his accurate stump-line bowling, Bumrah shattered Travis Head defences' to claim his third wicket of the match.
With Jadeja and rest of the Indian quicks also bowling excellently, Australia are already in deep trouble. If the home team wants to save the game, they need the whole team to step up as soon as possible or else India will take a 2-1 lead before the end of the year.
Here's how Twitter is reacting to Bumrah's dominance in the Boxing Day Test:
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