AUS VS IND Live Score and Reactions, 1st Test Day 4: India eye historic Perth win

An ideal end to the day for India, and for two days in a row, they couldn’t have asked for a better day at the office. Dominating first with the bat and then with the ball, the tourists have heaped misery on Australia. By the close of play on the ‘Moving Day’, the Test has moved well beyond the reach of the hosts, leaving them with an uphill battle. Earlier, a new dawn brought no respite for Australia as Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul continued to grind them down. The lateral movement remained negligible, and Jaiswal reached his 4th Test century in the first session. After going wicketless for two sessions on Day 2, Australia finally broke through on Day 3 when Mitchell Starc dismissed Rahul. 

With the deck showing no signs of wear, Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal added to Australia’s woes, leaving the visitors waiting for the second new ball. Once available, Australia did not start that well, but Josh Hazlewood struck immediately after the Lunch break to remove Padikkal. From 313/2, Jaiswal’s dismissal triggered a mini-collapse, with India slipping to 321/5 to lift the Aussie spirits. Virat Kohli held firm and stitched partnerships first with Washington Sundar and then with Nitish Kumar Reddy to extend the lead. His partnership with Nitish gave the final push India needed for their declaration and as Kohli upped the ante, it also brought up his 30th Test ton. 

After a gruelling day in the field, just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse for the hosts, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj piled on the misery with a fiery spell late in the day. Bumrah accounted for Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne, while Pat Cummins who came in as a night-watchman, was undone by Siraj. With two days still left in the Test, the Aussies are staring down the barrel. What makes their task with the bat even more daunting is the pitch’s behaviour in the latter half of Day 3. It began to show signs of uneven bounce, and Nathan Lyon extracted sharp turn from the rough – conditions that were absent on a relatively quiet Day 2.