Nathan Lyon’s regular blows helped Australia dominate on Day 2 of third Test at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. Apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, no Indian batter could grind it out on Day 2 as India got all out for 163. After a disappointing display with the bat, the hosts set a 76-run target for Steve Smith’s Australia.
Lyon got the bowling in his first spell itself. Opener Shubman Gill (5) went dancing down the track to hit the ball into the stands but got bowled in doing so. Skipper Rohit Sharma (12) not only got out lbw but wasted a review as well when he was plumb off Lyon's bowling. Virat Kohli (13) hit a couple of boundaries but Matthew Kuhnemann got him out lbw. Kohli went back to pull but could not get bat on ball. India lost their top order for 54.
Pujara batted with intent. He punished bad deliveries, created scoring opportunities by coming down the track and negating the spin effect. Ravindra Jadeja (7) fell to Lyon once again. This time he was beaten by the arm ball which hit his pad right in front of the stumps.
Shreyas Iyer played 10 dot deliveries and got off the mark with a six. Iyer continued the counter-attack hitting three fours and two sixes in his 27-ball 26. Just when India were getting ahead, Iyer fell into Mitchell Starc's trap. Starc bowled from around the wicket on Iyer's pads. He flicked it towards short mid-wicket Usman Khawaja who plucked the ball out of thin air to get Kangaroos' tails up once again.
Wicketkeeper-batter Srikar Bharat (3) became Lyon's fourth victim. He wanted to defend but the ball beat the outside edge and crashed into the off stump. Ravichandran Ashwin brought some calm in the middle. He shared a 22-run stand with Pujara. Meanwhile, the Saurashtra batter got to his half-century from 108 deliveries. Pujara was given a second chance by Marnus Labuschagne who dropped a half chance at covers. Lyon completed his fifer with the wicket of Ashwin. The all-rounder wanted to defend on front foot but the ball hit the pads. He scored 16 runs from 28 deliveries.
After a message from the captain via Ishan Kishan, Pujara decided to shift gears. He went for a slog over midwicket and cleared the boundary. But Lyon had the last laugh as Smith took a stunner at leg-slip to end Pujara's resistance. He scored 59 runs from 142 deliveries including five fours and one six. In the same over, he got the wicket of Umesh Yadav who went for a slog sweep but found Cameron Green on the boundary. Yadav got out for a two-ball duck.
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Axar Patel demanded support from Mohammed Siraj. Patel hit a six off Lyon as well and kept most of strike to himself. But Siraj decided to go charging down the track like Gill and got out in similar fashion. He got out for a seven-ball duck whereas Patel remained stranded for 15 off 39 balls.
Watch: Mitchell Starc continues to bowl despite blood dripping from his injured finger
This was Lyon's second eight-fer on Indian soil. He also became the third overseas bowler to take 50 or more wickets on Indian soil.
Earlier, Indian bowlers made a brilliant comeback after failing to take a wicket in the first hour of first session. Yadav and Ashwin took three wickets each as Australia could add only 41 runs to their overnight score and got all out for 197.
