Yashasvi Jaiswal completes the inevitable as Virat Kohli’s brilliance makes for danger in the outfield on an exhausting day three for Pat Cummins’s team in Perth.
Check out the quick hits from day three of the first Test between Australia and India.
1. Century time for Jaiswal, and how
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s six to bring up his maiden century against Australia was incredible. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Yashasvi Jaiswal is clearly a prodigious talent.
That much was evident from the moment he made 171 on debut at Dominica’s Windsor Park Oval in 2023, and backed it up with twin double centuries against England in Visakhapatnam and Rajkot earlier this year.
But, despite hitting six fifties in his 13 innings prior to this series, the 22-year-old would have felt serious pressure coming out to bat after making a duck in the first innings.
Instead, he batted with consummate ease on day two, making a mockery of the tough conditions of day one, and continued where he left off on the third morning.
The shot that took him to his century was extraordinary, a uppercut onto the boundary behind the wicketkeeper that might not have been perfectly played, but was still mighty effective.
He is only the second player to make a duck in his first Test against Australia, and follow it up with a century in the second innings after Gundappa Viswanath did so at Kanpur in 1969.
He is the first Indian batter since 1977 to make a duck and then a century in a single match against Australia since Sunil Gavaskar.
Additionally, he is the fifth youngest Indian male Test centurion in Australia behind Sachin Tendulkar, Rishabh Pant, Dattu Phadkar and KL Rahul.
2. Misfield sums up Australia’s woes
Shortly after lunch Australia, with their tails perhaps not up but certainly moving in that direction following the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal, might have felt they had an opening.
When Jaiswal, then on 143, took off for a single after dabbing the ball to mid-on, their eyes would have lit up.
But in a moment so typical of the whole innings thus far, the move turned from potential positive to calamitous negative in an instant.
Travis Head steamed in and shied at the stumps, side on from the non-strikers end, but missed by the width of the crease.
Pat Cummins, backing up, couldn’t make the ground enough and let the ball go under him as a possible run-out turned into a comfortable double.
Mitch Starc stood, mid-pitch, with his head in his hands, embodying the thoughts of Australian supporters everywhere.
3. A sudden flurry
RIshabh Pant (left) got himself into an awkward position as he chased Nathan Lyon. (AAP: Dean Lewins)
After taking just one wicket in three full sessions of Test cricket, they suddenly started falling like nine pins on the third afternoon in Perth.
India had already taken the game away from Australia, leading by 321 with nine wickets in hand at lunch on day three.
Then Devdutt Padikkal’s luck ran out when he edged Josh Hazlewood straight to Steve Smith. Yashasvi Jaiswal knuckled down again and put on 38 more runs alongside Virat Kohli before cutting a seemingly harmless Mitch Marsh delivery straight Smith, who wrestled in the catch at backward point.
The fans sensed it was party time as Rishabh Pant jogged to the middle, but he fell in farcical fashion just eight balls later when he ran past a Nathan Lyon delivery and twisted himself into a pigeon pose 2 metres down the pitch as Alex Carey whipped off the bails.
And then Pat Cummins had Dhruv Jurel LBW, meaning India had gone from 1-275 to 5-321 in just 12 overs. It would have been a worrying collapse if not for their already-mammoth second-innings lead.
4. Short-term gain, but long-term pain
Pat Cummins looked almost stunned that Dhruv Jurel was given out. (Getty Images: Paul Kane/Cricket Australia)
The last of that burst of wickets was exciting for Australia in the moment, but was a worrying sign of things to come.
Pat Cummins’s delivery was short of a good length, but stayed low enough on the wearing pitch to collect leg stump about three-quarters of the way up.
Cummins was basically cackling with laughter at his luck as Jurel’s review failed to overturn his on-field dismissal, but he may not be laughing on day four.
Australia is going to have to pull off a record run chase if it is to avoid falling behind 0-1 in this five-Test series, and bounce that’s less trustworthy than a Russian in a Bond film is going to make that nigh on impossible.
5. King Kohli finds the one person not watching him
Australia’s fielders rushed to check on the security guard after he was hit by a ball. (AAP: Dean Lewins)
Security guards get closer to the action than most fans ever will, but they’re in the awkward position of not being allowed to watch, forced instead to keep an eye on the crowd for any misbehaviour.
That rule came back to bite one unfortunate boundary rider when Virat Kohli launched Mitchell Starc over the boundary in the 101st over.
The ball just cleared the rope before taking a quick hop towards the stands, but it stayed low enough to cannon into the head of an unsuspecting stadium security guard.
Kohli looked concerned out in the middle, and Nathans Lyon and McSweeney ran to check on the unfortunate victim, who was quickly subbed out of the line of fire with an ice lolly for his trouble.
6. Captain’s not
India’s declaration was the best of both worlds. After grinding Australia into the dust and building an impossibly big lead, Virat Kohli notched his drought-breaking century at just the right time to give the hosts the vaunted ‘tricky period’ before stumps.
Twenty-four minutes in fading light against Jasprit Bumrah is truly a nightmare, and so it proved for Australia’s top order, plus Pat Cummins.
Debutant Nathan McSweeney loudly declared he was not afraid by taking strike first, but four balls later Bumrah skidded a bullet into his pads and it became clear he should have been.
Captain Cummins made a bold statement of his own by walking out as the night watchman, not asking his charges to do what he wouldn’t. But he only did two runs better than his rookie opener before he played at a ball that a night watchman really should be leaving, and nicked off to Mohammed Siraj.
Seven balls later, the day was over when Marnus Labuschagne, who played a perfect night watchman’s dig of 2 off 52 when it wasn’t required in the first innings, shouldered arms as Cummins should have done. But this time Bumrah nipped it back and trapped him plumb LBW.
Calamitous.
The biggest Australia-India moments
Throughout the summer, we’ll look back at some of the best stories and share our own favourite moments from Australia and India’s cricket history.
Join us to continue the conversation on our live blogs and on the radio over the summer before the readers’ top 10 is revealed ahead of the fifth Test at the SCG from January 3.
Select five options to make sure your vote is counted.
