It was a low-scoring day for India despite Cheteshwar Pujara getting to his 11th Test ton and keeping the hosts in the contention to win the historic Ranchi Test. India are still trailing by 91 runs with 4 wickets in hand. Apart from Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha binds promise as he has shown a blend of attack and defense. However, despite playing the whole day, India have scored a little less according to the number of overs played.
Both the captain and the vice-captain could not deliver to the promise as they got out early in the innings. Virat Kohli came into bat after suffering from the shoulder injury but could not memorable as he got out for 6 to Pat Cummins as soon as Steven Smith took the new ball. Cummins got the wicket of Rahane too who was trying to play an uppercut off a bouncer. However, there was no need for that shot.
However, one of the biggest talking point was Glenn Maxwell mocking Kohli by placing a hand on his shoulder after saving a boundary in a similar fashion that he did. Even Smith did it as soon as he took the catch of Kohli in the slips. It seemed like the Australian players stooped to a new low doing it. Kohli too tried to mock Australians when they wasted their second review against Vijay in the first session.
Karun Nair could not carry forward a good start as he got out to Josh Hazlewood. His trash talks too seemed to work as it helped him unsettle the batsman. Ravichandran Ashwin’s bad run with the bat continues as he gets out after scoring 3 runs, it is the first time he has been dismissed for single-digit numbers for the fifth time. It was completely opposite to what he did on India’s tour of West Indies.
Steve O’Keefe drew first blood as he took the wicket of Vijay on the stroke of lunch break. It seemed like Vijay threw his wicket away in an attempt to hit him over the top for a boundary which he did earlier.
