Oz spins India on rank turner

Indore: Indian batters' longstanding struggles against spin were thoroughly exposed before Australia applied themselves on a rank turner to take control of the third Test on a frantic opening day of the match here on Wednesday. Left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemman (5/16) picked up his maiden five-wicket haul as Australia skittled India out for a paltry 109 shortly after lunch on day one. Virat Kohli top-scored for India with 22 off 52 balls. Trailing 0-2 in the series, Australia came out with a strong resolve and purpose to end the day at 156 for four, taking a 47-run lead.

Ravindra Jadeja(4/63) took all four wickets for India including that of stand-in captain Steve Smith (26 off 38) before close of play. Usman Khawaja (60 off 147) was the standout performer for Australia as he tackled the skill-full Jadeja and R Ashwin with a straight bat and soft hands. Marnus Labuschagne (31 off 91 balls), who was bowled off a no ball early in his innings, rode on his luck to share a 96-run stand with Khawaja, the highest partnership of the series for the visitors.

Though the usually accurate Indian spinners were not relentless with their lines and lengths, Khawaja and Labuschagne rectified the "sweeping" mistakes they made in Delhi by playing straight and trusting their defense. When India were batting, the pitch seemed unplayable but Khawaja and Co. showed the way to the home team. Khawaja's gritty knock also had a couple of drives on the off-side. He was also not shy of playing the reverse sweep but mostly played straight. The southpaw hardly put a foot wrong in his crafty knock but when he did, he had to pay for it. In the 43rd over of the innings, Khawaja went for the sweep from around the off-stump off Jadeja and ended up giving a catch at deep midwicket.

Like Nagpur and Delhi, the game is set for another three-day finish and a 100-run lead on this surface will be worth gold. India were also guilty of bowling four no-balls. Earlier, having lost seven of the batters by the end of the opening session, India could add only 25 more runs to their total with Kuhnemann ending with career-best figures in first-class cricket. If it wasn't for Umesh Yadav's 17 off 13 balls, India would have struggled to get past the 100-run mark.

The only wicket that came India's way in the afternoon session was of Travis Head (9), who missed a straight ball from Jadeja to be adjudged lbw. It was a sign of desperation that India exhausted two of their three views in the first 10 overs. Labuschagne got a second life when India did not review a lbw call off Ashwin. The great Matthew Hayden on air called the the black soil surface at the Holkar Stadium a day-three pitch and it sure behaved like one. Three India batters including skipper Rohit Sharma (12), Jadeja (4) and Shreyas Iyer (0) perished while trying to attack. Kohli looked assured in the middle before being trapped lbw by Todd Murphy towards the end of the session. Winning the toss for the first time in the series, India expectedly decided to bat first. Shubman Gill replaced an out-of-form K L Rahul in the playing eleven while Umesh Yadav was brought in for the rested Mohammad Shami. Having regained match fitness, both Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green made Australia's playing eleven.

ScoreBoard

India 1st Innings: Rohit Sharma st Carey b Kuhnemann 12 Shubman Gill c Smith b Kuhnemann 21 Cheteshwar Pujara b Lyon 1 Virat Kohli lbw b Murphy 22 Ravindra Jadeja c Kuhnemann b Lyon 4 Shreyas Iyer b Kuhnemann 0 Srikar Bharat lbw b Lyon 17 Axar Patel not out Ravichandran Ashwin c Carey b Kuhnemann 3 Umesh Yadav lbw b Kuhnemann 17 Mohammed Siraj run out (Head/Lyon) 0 Extras: 0 Total: (All out in 33.2 overs) 109 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-34, 3-36, 4-44, 5-45, 6-70, 7-82, 8-88, 9-108, 10-109 Bowling" Mitchell Starc 5-0-21-0, Cameron Green 2-0 -14-0, Matthew Kuhneman 9-2-16 -5, Nathan Lyon 11.2-2-35-3, Todd Murphy 6-1-23-1.

Australia 1st Innings

Travis Head lbw b Ravindra Jadeja 9 Usman Khawaja c Shubman Gill b Ravindra Jadeja 60 Marnus Labuschagne b Ravindra Jadeja 31 Steven Smith c Srikar Bharat b Ravindra Jadeja 26 Peter Handscomb not out 7 Cameron Green not out 6 Extras: (B-9, LB-4, NB-4) 17 Total: (4 wkts, 54 Overs) 156 Fall of Wickets: 12-1, 108-2, 125-3, 146-4. Bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin 16-2-40-0, Ravindra Jadeja 24-6-63-4, Axar Patel 9-0-29-0, Umesh Yadav 2-0-4-0, Mohammed Siraj 3-0-7-0.