Labuschagne reasserts Australia’s control after India fight back
There was a point, not long before tea, when anything seemed possible. Australia had a handy lead and were attempting to stretch it, but India had hope. The crowd bubbled and shrieked, Virat Kohli conducting from the cordon, and the air was tense with potential. But then Steve Smith joined Marnus Labuschagne and together they wrung the energy out of the occasion, muffling a vibrant crowd under the suffocating blanket they knitted out of pure competence.
Travis Head, like Smith a first-innings centurion, proceeded to spend a frantic 27 balls at the crease, including a wild sweep to deep midwicket where Umesh Yadav fumbled the ball over the rope, before fluffing a return catch to Jadeja. The morning was fascinating, chaotic, a little wild. It started with Scott Boland bowling Srikar Bharat with a beautiful delivery, the second of the day, to reduce India to 152 for six. It felt like a precursor to another period of Australian dominance, a few quick lower-order wickets before they remorselessly batted the game out of India’s reach. But Thakur and Ajinkya Rahane had a different storyline in mind.
By lunchtime three catches had been dropped, a review wasted, and Rahane, for the second time, had been given lbw off what turned out to be a no-ball.
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