Ahmedabad: A hard-hitting century from opener Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli's half-century helped India end the third day of play of the fourth and final Test against Australia at Ahmedabad on a high, with the scoreboard reading 289/3 at the end of the final session of day three on Saturday.
At the end of the final session, Virat (59*) and Jadeja (16*) were unbeaten. However, India still have a mountain to climb as they trail by 191 runs in the match. India started off things in the final session at 188/2, with Shubman Gill (103*) and Virat Kohli (0*) unbeaten at the crease. Gill continued to find runs and played some delightful shots. But it was Nathan Lyon who ended his knock of 128 runs in 235 balls, which consisted of 12 fours and a six. India was at 245/3.
Ravindra Jadeja came out to bat and he built a partnership with Virat. Virat was looking extremely good, hitting some solid boundaries. After some struggles at the end of the previous session, he appeared more in control of his innings. He eventually brought up his 29th Test fifty in 107 balls, consisting of five fours. He brought up his first fifty since January 2022 in the longer format. Jadeja and Virat built a stand of 44 runs to end the third day of play safely. The spin trio of Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy got a wicket each.
Earlier, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara continued their onslaught on the Australian bowlers in the second session of the fourth test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Gill ended the session with a century in his name. On the other hand, Cheteshwar Pujara failed to read Todd Murphy and lost his wicket in the 62nd over. India resumed their innings from 129-1 after Lunch, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill on 22(46)* and 65(119)* respectively.
Both batters looked as if they would go on to chase the trail all by themselves. They faced everything that Australian bowlers had stored in their arsenal. Everything seemed ineffective in front of these two talented batters. Shubman Gill went on to score his second Test century and enjoyed ecstasy which only lasted merely for a minute. Cheteshwar Pujara was closing towards his 35th half-century but he became the first victim of Todd Murphy in the 62nd over for 42 runs. India was 187/2 at that point.
Virat Kohli came in the final over of the session to face Nathan Lyon. It was definitely a moment when the tension seemed to mount up in the entire stadium. If India ended up losing another wicket before the end of the second session, Australia would have turned the momentum in their favour. However, Kohli managed to survive the final over. He almost ended up losing his wicket in the second last ball of the session. Kohli tried to play for the turn but ended up nicking the ball. However, fortune favoured him this time and the ball did not carry to the first slip.
India ended the second session with Kohli and Gill at the crease, without any loss of wicket. The first and second sessions for both teams were quite similar. Just like Pujara and Gill, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill began their innings on a quick pace as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill targeted Mitchell Starc to find boundaries on a consistent basis. Just like on Day-1 and Day-2 the pitch still held similar traits which made it easy for the batters to score runs. India dominated the Australian bowlers untill Matthew Kuhnemann held the ball in his hands.
Kuhnemann came in and got the wicket of Rohit Sharma (35) in the first 11 overs of the day. The Australian bowler did not produce anything special to get the wicket of the Indian captain. It was a ball which Rohit Sharma could have sent to the boundary ropes on any other day. But the extra bit of pace seemed to do the trick. Rohit's cover drive shot sent the ball straight into the hands of Marnus Labuschagne, who did not flinch when the opportunity came to him. This wicket ended the 74-run partnership between the Indian openers. Then Gill and Pujara started to rebuild the innings for India and ended the first session at the loss of one wicket.
Brief Scores: India: 289/3 (Shubman Gill 128, Virat Kohli 59, Todd Murphy 1/45) trail Australia: 480 (Usman Khawaja 180, Cameron Green 114, Ravichandran Ashwin 6/91). (ANI)
