Melbourne, Dec 27: Captain Steven Smith (192, 305b, 2×6, 15×4,) cracked his third successive century as Indian bowlers put up a poor show to allow Australia post a mammoth first innings total of 530 and gain control of the third cricket Test here Saturday.
Resuming the day on 259 for five, Smith led from the front to notch up his seventh Test ton and put on a 110-run sixth wicket partnership with Brad Haddin (55, 84b, 1×6, 7×4) to demoralise the Indians on the second day.
Like in the previous matches, the Australian tailenders added valuable runs to expose the Indian bowling attack, which has found it difficult to clean up the tail.
India responded well to Australia’s huge first innings total by reaching 108 for one at close on the second day with Murali Vijay (55 batting, 102b, 5×4) and Cheteshwar Pujara (25 batting, 69b, 2×4) at the crease. India are still trailing by 422 runs.
If Smith mixed the right dose of caution and aggression in his heroic innings, then Haddin made sure that the hosts score at a quick rate in the morning session.
New-ball bowlers Ishant Sharma (0/104) and Umesh Yadav (3/130) made no impression in the first hour of play as the Australians made merry on a good Melbourne wicket much to the delight of the home crowd.
Mohammed Shami (4/138), who had been bleeding runs till now, finally got Haddin caught behind but India’s troubles were far from over as the ever-resilient Mitchell Johnson (28) also did his bit with the bat.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s (3/134) entry brought some respite to India’s condition as the visitors managed to check the flow of runs and get the dangerous Johnson back in the pavilion.
In the second session, Smith changed gears and found the perfect partner in Harris as the duo stitched together a 106-run eighth-wicket partnership to double-up the scoring rate.
Harris, who notched up his third Test fifty was finally trapped lbw off Ashwin but Smith continued to smack the bowlers all around the park as the hosts managed a scoring-rate of over five throughout the day’s play.
Medium-pacer Harris took the only wicket of the Indian innings so far when he got Shikhar Dhawan (28, 51b, 3×4) to induce an outside edge which was well taken by Smith at second slip.
The Murali-Pujara duo rebuilt the innings with an unbeaten 53-run stand but trailing the four-match series 0-2, India sure have a mountain to climb on the third day’s play.
Scoreboard
Australia 1st innings: Chris Rogers c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 57, David Warner c Dhawan b Yadav 0, Shane Watson lbw b Ashwin 52, Steven Smith b Yadav 192, Shaun Marsh c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 32, Joe Burns c Dhoni b Yadav 13, Brad Haddin c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 55, Mitchell Johnson st Dhoni b Ashwin 28, Ryan Harris lbw Ashwin 74, Nathan Lyon b Mohammed Shami 11, Josh Hazlewood 0 not out, Extras: (b 1, lb 9, w 1, nb 5) 16, Total: 530 all out
Fall: 1-0, 2-115, 3-115, 4-184, 5-216, 6-326, 7-376, 8-482, 9530, 10-530
Bowling: Ishant 32-7-104-0, Yadav 32.3-3-130-3, Shami 29-4-138-4, Ashwin 44-9-134-3, Murali Vijay 5-0-14-0.
India 1st innings: Murali Vijay n o 55, Shikhar Dhawan c Smith b Harris 28, Cheteshwar Pujara 25 not out, Extras 0, Total: 108
Fall: 1-55.
Bowling: Johnson 9-3-24-0, Harris 7-3-19-1, Hazlewood 9-4-19-0, Watson 4-0-14-0, Lyon 8-0-32-0.
PTI