The Australians for the first time in this India tour will be in good mood as they only need 76 runs to win the third test match at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The Kangaroos once again suffered a collapse as Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav ran over the batting lineup, restricting them to a lead of 88. The Australians lost six wickets adding only 11 runs.
However keeping that aside, they came out with rejuvenated spirits in the second innings as Nathan Lyon became the protagonist as he tormented the Indian batters with his sharp turning balls and accurate lengths. Lyon finished with 8/64 in the second innings as India got bowled out for only 163, setting a target of 76 for the visitors. Chesteswar Pujara did show a lot of grit and determination as he was the only Indian batter to score a fifty on this wicket.
Former Indian wicket keeper, Dinesh Karthik believes that the Australians are ahead in the third Test before the start of Day 3. He feels that the total of 76 won’t be much of a task for the visitors as they will be smiling at lunch. He feels that India may put pressure with early wickets but still he feels Australia will win with ease.
“If they (India) pick 3-4 wickets that will be good but I do think Australia will walk home smiling away. At lunch time, they will have a very happy lunch for once. They will be happy with the fact that they won one more Test match in India. Steven Smith will be one hell of a happy captain,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
He understands the demons in this pitch and how difficult it is to score runs. On top of that Australia have suffered a collapse in the last two Test matches so another one is quite possible. But even with all of these factors, Karthik feels 76 is a very low target and the Australians will reach there eventually.
“I get the feeling strongly in favour of Australia because 75 is not a target that they will be worried about. Yes, there are demons in the pitch but not to that extent that will stop them from scoring 75. So definitely very much aligned towards Australia right now,” he added.
It will be interesting to see who comes out to open the Australian innings alongwith Travis Head as there were talks surrounding Usman Khawaja’s calf strain. The southpaw has been Australia’s best bet against spin and not having him right from the start might be a blow for the Kangaroos.
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