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Even after losing to South Africa and England, India were considered the favourites to win the Test series Down Under. The No.1 Test team, for the first time, have lived up to the expectations in overseas tours as they set a daunting target of 323 for the home team to chase down.
In the first innings, most Indian batsmen threw their wickets away. It was India's No.3 - Cheteshwara Pujara who showed the rest of the team on how to bat on this Adelaide pitch.
He built a crucial partnership of 62 runs with Ravichandran Ashwin for the seventh wicket - only 50+ partnership for India in the innings. The crucial runs added by the centurion with the help of tail-enders meant that India could post a total of 250 in their first outing.
Just like their Australian counterparts, the Indian bowlers were also consistent with their lines and lengths. They kept on picking up wickets at regular intervals which hindered the run scoring. Just like Pujara, half-centurion Travis Head added invaluable runs with the lower order and reduced India's first innings lead to just 15 runs.
Unlike their first innings, India got a decent start as the openers - Murali Vijay and KL Rahul - added 63 runs for the first wicket. The two openers departed with a short span of time but the Indian innings was steadied by Pujara and Kohli. Virat Kohli got out close to end of third day's play but his partnership of 71 with Pujara put India in a decent position.
India started Day 4 proceedings with a lead of 166. The first innings hero, Pujara found support in the form Ajinkya Rahane and the two batsmen added 87 runs for the fourth wicket. After Pujara's dismissal, Rohit Sharma joined Rahane in the middle but his stay was short as he scored just one run.
Rishabh Pant who came next played a short cameo of 16 balls which yielded 28 runs. In the first over after the lunch break, he hit three consecutive fours and six off Nathan Lyon's bowling before getting out in the very next over bowled by the off-spinner.
After crossing the total of 300, India could not capitalise on the situation as they lost the last four wickets for just four runs. Half-centurion Ajinkya Rahane too got out trying to score quick runs and India ended up setting a target of 324. Nathan Lyon was the pick of the Australian bowlers as he picked up six wickets - including the likes of Cheteswara Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.
During the chase, Australia were given a huge scare as Aaron Finch was adjudged out leg before wicket by umpire Kumara Dharmasena. After a small talk with his opening partner Marcus Harris, Finch decided to review the decision and was luckily saved by an Ishant Sharma no-ball.
Even the initial retrieval did not change Finch's fortunes as he was given out in spite of the ball not brushing the glove. Finch's decision as not to review the decision meant that Australia were 28-1 at tea and will need a huge effort from the inexperienced batting line-up if they want to chase down the record target.
Here's how Twitter reacted to the first two sessions of the third day's play:
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