Key events
So it will be Usman Khawaja to resume in quarter of an hour or so, having scored 3 from 9 balls, along with Steve Smith who will be on a king pair. Got out first ball in the first innings.
After that, Head, Marsh, Carey, and three of the four bowlers, with Cummins already done.
There’s always so much attention on Virat Kohli. It feels as though Australian cricket is almost as obsessed with him as Indian cricket.
Well, here’s yesterday’s century report, with a fair bit of Yashasvi Jaiswal too.
Geoff Lemon
Good morning from Perth, good day or afternoon or evening or witching hours wherever else in the world you may be. It’s sunny, it’s wildly windy, and it’s not going to get too hot today, and India will be bowling for victory with everything stacked on their side.
Here’s the equation. Australia are 522 runs behind. Three wickets down. And they have two full days to try to survive on a wicket that has already started demonstrating the erratic bounce associated with this Perth Stadium pitch on days four and five.
Buckley’s and none.
Yes, that margin was 522, five hundred and twenty two. That’s after Jaiswal and Kohli made centuries yesterday while some teammates batted and then clattered around them.
Australia, done in, then lost three wickets by stumps: first the makeshift opener McSweeney, then the captain Cummins trying to protect his first drop Labuschagne, then Labuschagne himself.
Things have gone very badly indeed in that Australian side since they bowled out India for 150 on day one. India, meanwhile, can go into a five-Test series one-up, unless something truly bizarre happens.
What’s in it for Australia? Try to get some good time in the middle against India’s bowlers, figure out a method against Bumrah, make the opposition toil and hurt for their win.
That’s about it. The recriminations will come later, but they may be tempered or intensified by the manner in which today plays out.
Let’s see.
