Watchful openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill put each foot cautiously to make sure that India didn’t lose a wicket early in their first innings of the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
After bundling Australia out for 338 on Day 2, India reached the score of 26/0 at the end of the second session in nine overs. Sharma and Gill are batting at 11 and 14 respectively.
Both the batters batted positively and scored boundaries whenever they got the opportunity against Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.
Earlier, Australia’s premier batsman Steve Smith found his form back as he scored a brilliant hundred on Friday. His innings of 131 runs took Australia’s total to 338 runs before they were bundled in the second session
Apart from Smith, who unfortunately got run out to bring an end to Australia’s first innings, Marnus Labuschagne made a significant contribution of 91 before falling short of his fifth Test ton. The duo was also a part of more than hundred runs partnership.
Debutant opener Will Pucovski had also scored 62 on the rain-hit first day of the Test match.
For India, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 4/62 in his 18 overs.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini picked two wickets each while Mohammed Siraj scalped one. Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, however, went wicket-less in the 24 overs he bowled and conceded 74 runs.
The four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide while India registering a win in the second in Melbourne.
Brief scores: India 26/0 at Tea (Rohit Sharma 11*, Shubman Gill 14*); Australia 338 all out (Steve Smith 131, Marnus Labuschagne 91; Ravindra Jajeja 4/62)