For Australia, who elected to bat first after winning the toss, left-handed opener Usman Khawaja was precise in footwork and pristine in strokeplay to make 81, the first fifty by a visiting batter on the ongoing tour. Peter Handscomb looked impressive in his 72 not out. But losing wickets in back-to-back fashion thrice may come to hurt them later on. The final session began with Australia reaching 200 in 59.4 overs. Handscomb started off by using the pace from Axar Patel’s delivery to guide past slip for a boundary. When Jadeja pitched outside the off-stump, Handscomb was quick to go on backfoot and punch past backward-point for another boundary. After Handscomb got his fifty in 110 balls, Jadeja broke the stubborn 59-run stand by trapping Pat Cummins lbw, with the Australian skipper burning a review. Two balls later, Jadeja castled Todd Murphy through the gate. Nathan Lyon was delightful in punching and driving off Shami. But the pacer had the last laugh, sending Lyon’s off-stump on a cartwheel ride. Jadeja had Handscomb caught on 67, but replays showed he overstepped and was called no-ball. On the very next ball, Handscomb slog-swept Jadeja over deep square leg for a sumptuous boundary. In the next over, Shami brought Australia’s innings to a close by casting debutant Matthew Kuhnemann. Earlier in the morning, Australia survived a fiery opening spell from Mohammed Siraj to get a 50-run opening partnership. But India bounced back courtesy of Ashwin, Jadeja and Shami. After Shami conceded four byes down leg on the first ball of the session, he had Warner trapped lbw in the opening over. But the left-handed batter immediately took a review and was saved as replays showed an inside edge. Khawaja, on the other hand, was off the mark with a nice glance on an overpitched delivery off Mohammed Siraj. He then made use of fuller balls from Shami by hitting two boundaries through the vacant space in the off-side.

