Australia piled a huge total of 517 runs at the loss of seven wickets. David Warner, Michael Clarke and Steve Smith scored a ton each in the Australia’s first inning. There were some concerns for Michael Clarke, but the Kangaroo skipper overcame his back pain and slammed a 28th century in his test career in the Adelaide test.

Virat Kohli slams ton, India in command

Without wasting any time the skipper decided to declare the inning and put India immediately into bat at the start of the day three. India gave a befitting reply to Australia’s huge total 369 runs on the board at the end of the day’s play. India countered the Aussie bowling attack in a very aggressive manner and maintained a steady run-rate of around 4 runs per over throughout the day.

Virat Kohli is the stand-in captain of the first test due to regular Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s injury. He rose up to the occasion well and slammed his sixth test century in just 158 balls. With this ton Kohli has become only the third Indian after Vijay Hazare and Sunil Gavaskar to score hundred on a debut as a test captain.

Other Indian batsmen played excellently too. Opener Murali Vijay gave a good start and got out after scoring 53 runs. Ajinkya Rahane slammed his fifth test half-century and was dismissed for 62 runs. Elegant batsman Cheteshwar Pujara also showed his form and scored a well-crafted 73 runs. This was the sixth time Pujara scored his test fifty.

Bouncer was fluent throughout, the Aussie bowling attack. In fact Indian captain Virat Kohli has faced many bouncers from the Kangaroo bowler Mitchell Johnson, but the dashing batsman was determined enough to play a long inning for India.

When Kohli was dismissed, he already took India to a comfortable position. Kohli was dismissed for 115 runs when he tried to steer a short pitch delivery from Mitchell Johnson to fine leg only to get caught in the hands of Ryan Harris. This brought to an end of a scintillating captain’s knock from Kohli just a few overs before the end of the day’s play.

India still needs 148 runs to equate Australia’s total and then start taking a lead from there on. Indian team reached 369-5 at stumps. Wriddhiman Saha and Rohit Sharma are still battling it out for the team. Rohit Sharma is unbeaten at 33 while Saha is playing at 1 not out.

Brief Scorecard:

India – 369/5 (Murali Vijay 53, Cheteshwar pujara 73, Virat Kohli 115, Rohit Sharma 33*, Wriddhiman Saha 1 Not Out; Johnson 2/90, Nathan Lyon 2/103)

Australia – 517/7 (declared) Smith 162, Clarke 128, Warner 145

Tags: Adelaide, Australia, Cricket, David Warner, India, Michael Clarke, Steve Smith, Test Match, Virat Kohli