The usual suspects Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin turned the second Test on his head as Australia suffered a massive collapse on Day 3 of the Delhi Test. Jadeja picked up seven wickets as Australian batters had no clue how to counter the spinners on a Day 4 Delhi pitch.
Australia’s overnight score was 61/1 and the game was delicately poised between the two sides. Ravichandran Ashwin started the collapse with the wicket of Travis Head (43) in the first over of the day. Ashwin struck again to get the wicket of Steve Smith (9) who was beaten by the lack of bounce. This was the eighth time Ashwin got his wicket.
Jadeja joined the party as he got the set batter Marnus Labuschagne out. The arm ball from left-arm spinner crashed into the stumps. In the next over, Ashwin trapped Matthew Renshaw (2) in front of the stumps and even a review could not save him.
In the next over, Jadeja struck twice. Half-centurion of the first innings, Peter Handscomb was the first to fall as he handed an easy catch to first slip fielder Virat Kohli. Handscomb got out for a three-ball duck. Skipper Pat Cummins played an irresponsible slog and got bowled off the first ball he faced.
Alex Carey (7) tried to take the attacking route but could not last long against Jadeja. The wicketkeeper-batter went for the reverse-sweep and exposed his leg stump which came crashing down. Tailenders Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy dragged the ball on to their stumps as Jadeja took 7/42, his best bowling figures in Test cricket.
From 61/1, Australia lost nine wickets for 62 more runs and got all out for 113. Rohit Sharma-led India need 115 runs to win the second Test and take a 2-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. Apart from Head and Labuschagne no other Australia batter could score in double digits.
