India 358 for 9 (Reddy 105*, Washington 50, Boland 3-57, Cummins 3-86) Australia 474 for 116 runs
By the time the players left the field for the second time (rain had brought an early tea), Australia’s lead had been reduced to 116, much less than it looked on the cards when they had India at 221 for 7 before lunch. They still hope for a three-figure lead, but could now face a race against time to claim victory on a genuine course that has shown no significant signs of deterioration.
Ravindra Jadeja played a largely defensive innings before being beaten by some superb bowling from Lyon who skated one to catch him lbw. It was only the fourth wicket of the series for Lyon but, having bounced back to dismiss Washington, he could still have a key role to play. When Jadeja fell, India were still 253 runs behind with the follow-on as the first objective when Washington joined Reddy, although there is almost no chance Cummins would have applied it.
Reddy had been positive when he arrived, quickly surpassing Jadeja’s score despite his partner having a 35-ball head start. Soon after Lyon removed Jadeja, Reddy jumped towards the spinner and sent it straight for six. His half-century came with a gritty backhander against Mitchell Starc and, as he had done earlier in the series, his technique shone like that of someone who will be further up the order as his career develops.
Washington had a moment of fortune, in rather unusual circumstances, when he turned Starc down the leg side in the first over as the second new ball flew off the back of his bat towards second slip where Steven Smith, Taken by surprise that it was coming in his direction, he could not hold on and lunged to his right.
There was a worrying moment for Australia later when Starc caught him from behind mid-over. However, he appeared to emerge unscathed and continued to bowl at a good pace, although he ended the day wicketless from 25 overs as the quicks’ workload increased ahead of the final Test in Sydney.
Mitchell Marsh was used for a period either side of an extended tea break, but his average pace of 120km/h was unconvincing, although it played a part in drying up the scoring early in the final session.
The eighth-wicket pair showed little sign of being separated until Lyon got one bounced against Washington, shouldering the bat to Smith at slip. At that point, Reddy was on 97 and the most exciting minutes of the day were about to unfold.
