INDIA WREST THE ADVANTAGE

AUSTRALIA MISS A TRICK

Day 4 resumed with India leading by 165 runs. Australia started with pacers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood and not spinner Nathan Lyon. It only took four wicketless overs for skipper Tim Paine to change his mind and introduce Lyon but it had already allowed Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane 15 minutes to settle down.

PUJARA’S TACTICS

In the second innings, Pujara, who scored 123 in the first innings, came down the track to 40 deliveries from Lyon but scored only 8 runs. However, it disrupted Lyon’s length, allowing Pujara play back to 39 balls and score 28 runs off them. He fell playing forward though.

AJINKYA DOES IT AGAIN

Each of the two Tests India have won abroad this year couldn’t have been possible without Rahane --- a second-innings 48 in Johannesburg after being left out of the first two Tests and 81 in the first innings of the Trent Bridge Test. On Sunday, he hit a 147-ball 70 to help India push for the first Test win.

LYON’S MASTERCLASS

It took 88 balls from Lyon to dismiss Pujara in the third innings. Pujara’s footwork had helped him control most of his contest with Lyon but change in the field setting made a difference, drawing false shots off Pujara’s bat. Once Lyon got Pujara, he ran though India’s middle and lower order, finishing with 6/122.