Australia vs India, 3rd Test: 5 Talking points from Day 3

After another attritional day of Test cricket, India were in the driver’s seat at the end of the second day’s play. The pitch had started showing signs of life and the Indians took the field on day 3 with hopes of removing the Aussie openers as quickly as possible.

The first session was totally dominated by the Indian bowlers as 4 wickets fell for 81 runs. Bumrah was the chief destroyer as he wreaked havoc with his pace and awkward bounce and got the wickets of Marcus Harris and Aaron Finch.

He continued to trouble the Australians after lunch and it looked like the Aussies had no idea on how to deal with his yorkers. Tim Paine did show some fighting spirit for a short while before nicking through to the keeper. Australia conceded a massive lead of 292 but Pat Cummins struck demolished the Indian middle order and restricted India to 54-5 at the end of day’s play.

Here are a few talking points from today's play at MCG.

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#5 Jadeja’s return to the squad

Ravindra Jadeja managed to pick two scalps in his maiden Test match down under

On overseas tours, Jadeja has always been the second choice spinner for India even though his record outside Asia is marginally better than his counterpart Ravi Ashwin. In the first match, he missed out since Ashwin was once again preferred but the choice to pick Yadav instead of Jadeja for the second test was a blunder and today he showed the team management what they missed in the defeat at Perth.

Consistency and the tendency to bowl an over at a very quick rate has always been Jadeja’s strength and today was no different. He perfectly utilized the rough created by the Aussie pacers to trouble the Aussie batsmen.

He just kept nagging away by bowling as much as he can into the rough spot and finally got the reward for it as Khawaja was caught at short leg while defending on the front foot. With the pitch opening up, he will have a much bigger role to play in the second innings.

#4 The young bloke is here to stay

Agarwal looked the most convincing of the lot

So far this has been a mighty impressive debut performance by Mayank Agarwal. For a debutant, he has rarely shown any signs of nervousness and has played like a Test cricket veteran. He looked to play positively at the initial stages of his innings and got off the mark with a beautifully timed cover drive.

He was also quick to put away any delivery that was drifted into his pads and punished the Aussie bowlers whenever they slightly erred in length. But, he started losing partners at the other end and the situation demanded him to curb his natural attacking instincts. In the last few overs of the day, he showed that he can adjust his game according to the needs of the team and showed grit and composure to see off Cummins’s fiery spell.

He remained unbeaten at the end of the day and will be crucial to India’s hopes of setting Australia a big target in the 4th innings.

#3 Australia go back to the old school cricket

Cummins bowled his heart out to dent India four times in the 2nd innings

Indian batsmen were high on spirit after taking a lead of 292 runs in the first innings and many expected them to handle things easily as the Aussie bowlers were still tired after bowling almost 170 overs in the first innings.

But what followed was a dramatic middle order collapse as Cummins picked up 4 wickets to give Australia some much-needed confidence. The main reason for this collapse was the legside trap set by Tim Paine. He asked his best bowler, Pat Cummins to bowl into the batsman’s body and kept a forward short leg in position for the leg glance.

The plan worked and Pujara was dismissed for a duck. Surprisingly, even the mighty Kohli fell for the trap and the Australians were elated. Rahane tried to paddle the ball to fine leg and gloved the ball to the keeper. After all the hard work done by their bowlers, the Indians would be disappointed by their performance with the bat.

#2 Kohli’s captaincy

Kohli's captaincy in this match has been proactive

No one in the world can question Kohli’s ability with the bat but as a captain, this has been a disappointing year for him as far as Test cricket as concerned. As a captain, he has been criticized for not picking the right players but today he was spot on with his field settings and the manner in which he rotated the bowlers. He had a big role to play in the dismissal of Aaron Finch.

He observed Finch’s tendency to play the leg flicks uppishly and placed Agarwal in a short midwicket position. Ishanth perfectly followed Kohli’s plan by drifting the ball into Finch’s pads and Agarwal took a sharp reflex catch.

He was proactive throughout the Aussie innings and was always looking for a wicket with an aggressive field setting. If not for his cheap dismissal later in the day, this was a great day out for Virat Kohli.

#1 Bumrah skittles Australia with a 6-for

The Indian quick has grown in confidence ever since his debut against South Africa

With each passing match, Bumrah just keeps getting better and today was an unforgettable day in his career. At times, He just seemed simply unplayable even when other bowlers were extracting nothing out of this pitch.

His first wicket was Marcus Harris who top-edged a well-directed bouncer. His second wicket was probably the ball of the series as he trapped Shaun Marsh in front of the stumps with a slow, dipping yorker.

After lunch, he castled Head with a toe-crushing yorker. Another impressive aspect of Bumrah’s performance today was the low economy rate he maintained even when looking for wickets. India have had a history of allowing tailenders to score runs freely but Jasprit Bumrah was simply too good for the Aussie bowler.

He dismissed the well-settled Tim Paine as the extra bounce resulted in him nicking the ball to the keeper. He thoroughly deserved the 6 wickets he bagged in the first innings and will be looking to add more to his tally when the Aussies come out to bat again.