Australia ended the 2nd day of the 3rd Test match in a commanding position against the Indian side played at Holkar Stadium, Indore on 2 March 2023.
Starting on the overnight score of 156 for 4, Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green looked slow in the initial stage before R Ashwin and Umesh Yadav put the visitors under pressure grabbing 6 wickets for 11 runs to bowl them out for 197 runs with a lead of 88 runs.
Shubman Gil and Rohit Sharma survived the initial stages going 13 for 0 at lunch. After the lunch break, Nathan Lyon and Co-created enough pressure on the Indian batting. Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja were dismissed. Lyon looked threatening getting wickets of Gill, Rohit, and Ravindra Jadeja.
After the tea break, Shreyas Iyer and Pujara showed intent to put pressure on the Australian bowling. A superb diving catch by Usman Khawaja ended the innings for Shreyas Iyer. Iyer and Pujara added 35 runs for the 5th wicket. KS Bharat looked out of sorts and fell cheaply to Lyon.
R Ashwin and Pujara looked solid against disciplined Australian bowling. Pujara showed intent with lovely strokes completing a half-century off 108 balls.
The stand-in captain Steve Smith stunned the crowd at Indore pulling off a stunning one-handed catch at leg slip to dismiss Pujara. The incident took place in the 57th over, shifting the momentum in Australia’s favour.
Steve Smith and his one-handed stunner:
Steve Smith š pic.twitter.com/5zZeqUQRXA
— Zeus_Cricket (@Zeus_Cricket) March 2, 2023
Axar Patel showed resistance and did not give strike Mohammed Siraj. Nathan Lyon grabbed the final wicket to get rid of Siraj to bowl out India for 163. Lyon took his 2nd career-best figures of 8 for 64 in 23.3 overs.
Australia needs just 76 runs to win
Australia will need just 76 runs to win reducing the gap to 1-2. Steve Smith led from the front and produced some magical changes.
Usman Khawaja was the top scorer for Australia in the first innings with 60 and would look to show his skills in 2nd innings too.
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