Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara dominated Australian bowlers in the first session of the fourth Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
India lost the wicket of their skipper Rohit Sharma for 35(58) in the first hour of Day-3. But India quickly recovered with the help of Pujara and Gill. India resumed their innings at 36/0, with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill ending the day with 17(33)* and 18(27)* respectively.
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill began their innings on a quick pace as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill targeted Mitchell Starc to find boundaries on a consistent basis. Just like Day-1 and Day-2 the pitch still held similar traits which made it easy for the batters to score runs. India dominated the Australian bowlers untill Matthew Kuhnemann held the ball in his hands.
Kuhnemann came in and got the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the first 11 overs of the day. The Australian bowler didn’t produce anything special to get the wicket of the Indian spinner. It was a ball which Rohit Sharma could have sent to the boundary ropes on any other day. But the extra bit of pace seemed to do the trick. Rohit’s cover drive shot sent the ball straight into the hands of Marnus Labuschagne, who didn’t flinch when the opportunity came to him. This wicket ended the 74-run partnership between the Indian openers.
Cheteshwar Pujara stepped onto the pitch to steady the innings of the Indian team as the entire crowd applauded him. He took some time to adapt to the surroundings. But once he solved the mysteries of the pitch he quickly switched to his aggressive approach.
Shubman Gill continued his approach of rotating the strike and finding boundaries whenever he felt like it. He got his fourth half-century in the Test format in 28.2 overs. He continues to steadily progress towards his second century in the Test format.
Pujara and Gill have a 55-run partnership and the Indian team will hope that they continue their partnership at this pace.
India ended the session with 93 runs with a loss of just one wicket.
Brief scores: (Shubman Gill 65(119)*, Cheteshwar Pujara 22(46)*, Rohit Sharma 35(58) and Matthew Kuhnemann 1/20) vs India.