Steve Smith and Bowlers Put Australia on Top
Steve Smith gutsy 27th Test Century laid solid foundation for the Aussies in the first innings
After rather uncharacteristic performances in the first two test matches Steve Smith 131 allowed Australia to post a challenging first innings score on the board in the third test at SCG. He scored only 10 runs in the earlier two games, where Ashwin looked to got better of him in several occasions. However, in this game he looked aggressive against Ashwin in the upfront. From here on he played fantastically to hand his team luxury of 300 plus first innings score.
In reply, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill started the innings auspiciously with 70 runs partnership. Hazelwood return catch of Rohit Sharma provided the first blood to their bowling attack. From here on they did not look back as a bowling group to apply further pressure on India’s middle order.
Both Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara scored exactly 50 runs each. While no one else apart from them was able to make a immense score to stretch India’s score to a reasonable one. To be precise, Indian batting order looked under pressure in the first innings without their premier player Virat Kohli. Pat Cummins was the chief destroyer with 4 wickets. He picked three among the four top orders batsmen. While Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc provided appropriate support to his fellow team man. As a result they got a very important lead of 94 runs. Furthermore they scored 103 runs after loosing both openers. Which helped them to boost their lead to 197 runs.
India have be at their level best on day four to restrict Australia inside 200. Unless it is looking like Australia will be able to gain the lead in the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
