Australia is in the driving seat of the fourth Test after the fiery pace attack destroyed India’s top order on Friday, capitalising on a daunting first innings target set on the back of Steve Smith’s 34th Test century.
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MATCH CENTRE: Australia vs India fourth Test scorecard, stats, summary
The visitors were 5-164 at the close on day two at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, still 310 runs adrift after Australia was out for 474 soon after lunch, buoyed by Smith’s stylish 140.
Rishabh Pant was not out six and Ravindra Jadeja on four, with three wickets in the final half-hour bursting India’s momentum after they were 153-2.
Scott Boland and skipper Pat Cummins grabbed two wickets each.
“Smithy was awesome this morning. He felt so composed and took the game on when he was on top of them,” Cummins told Fox Sports.
“And then to get a couple of late wickets really sets up the rest of the game.”
Skipper Rohit Sharma reverted to his usual role as opener after dropping to six in the past two Tests.
But it did nothing to help his woeful recent form and he was out for three, spooning an attempted pull shot off Cummins to Boland at mid-on for a simple catch.
Cummins pounced again to remove the in-form KL Rahul with the last ball before tea, bowling him for 24.
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But opener Yashasvi Jaiswal stood firm with a high-quality innings, crunching a series of stylish boundaries in his 82.
The 22-year-old, who scored 161 in the first Test at Perth, looked destined for another century but threw his wicket away in a comical mix up with Virat Kohli.
Jaiswal set off for a quick single off Boland but his teammate said no, leaving the youngster stranded, ending a dangerous 102-run stand.
Nathan Lyon though put the blame squarely on Kohli for the mix-up with a hilarious sledge.
“It was probably one of the best barbecues I’ve seen, to be honest with you,” Lyon said on ABC Radio.
“It came out of the blue. They were doing it pretty easy out there … pressure does funny things. Silly run-outs are coach killers, aren’t they? It was pretty special.”
Kohli, who was fined 20 percent of his match fee for a day one shoulder charge on Australian debutant Sam Konstas, was caught behind by Alex Carey for 36 off Boland, who then removed nightwatchman Akash Deep without scoring.
“We looked like we were in a great position to get big runs, especially when Yashasvi was batting,” said Indian spinner Washington Sundar.
“But we’ll come back and continue to fight tomorrow morning. The energy is very good in the dressing room. We are all positive. There’s still three days and a lot of overs to play.”
The five-match series is locked at 1-1 after India won by 295 runs in Perth before being crushed by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The rain-affected third Test in Brisbane was drawn.
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