IndvsAus: Gill’s century, Kohli set foot, India’s 289 for three wickets
Ahmedabad. Young opener Shubman Gill’s matured century and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten half-century helped India score 289 for three in their first innings on the third day of the fourth and final Test cricket match against Australia here on Saturday. Gill, who has been in fine form across formats, justified his being preferred over KL Rahul in the playing XI, scoring 128 runs off 235 balls which included 12 fours and a six. This is his second century and highest score in Test cricket.
Gill shared 74 for the first wicket with captain Rohit Sharma (35 off 58 balls), 113 for the second wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara (42 off 121 balls) and Virat Kohli (59 not out off 128 balls) Shared 58 runs for the third wicket. India are currently 191 runs behind Australia, who scored 480 in their first innings. Kohli is accompanied by Ravindra Jadeja at the other end, who scored 16 off 54 balls. Both of them have so far added 44 runs in more than 20 overs. India added 93 runs in the first session but scored only 59 runs in the second session as the ball was getting old and it was difficult to play strokes. This is the reason why Australia took the new ball after 94 overs. India scored 101 runs in the third session but batted very slowly in the last hour of the day. Gill did not have any problem in playing the Australian bowlers. After reaching 70 runs, he definitely slowed down for some time but soon he started playing in his natural style.
He first hit Nathan Lyon over his head for a four and then completed his century with a paddle scoop. India started the morning at 36 for no loss and lost the wicket of Rohit in the first session, who squandered a golden opportunity to post a big score on a batting pitch. He was dismissed by left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann. Rohit was batting in good flow and he pulled Mitchell Starc for a six as well. The ball he got out from Kuhnemann was not a wicket-taking ball. It was a short pitch ball that Rohit could have played in any part of the ground but he played it on the backfoot and caught Marnus Labuschagne at short extra cover. Pujara also looked in position to play a big innings but he could not take advantage of a good start again.
Todd Murphy gave Australia their second breakthrough when he was dismissed lbw just before the tea break. Pujara also resorted to DRS but it also did not work for him. Gill surpassed his best score (110 runs) after the tea break, but after that he was also troubled by leg cramps. In such a situation, Leone’s low ball hit his pad on the backfoot and the umpire immediately raised his finger on the appeal of pagbadha. Despite this, Gill took the support of the third umpire but he also ruined the review like Pujara. Australia also wasted two reviews. Of these, Murphy’s lbw appeal against Ravindra Jadeja clearly took the edge of the bat before hitting the pads. Kohli hit two spectacular fours on Starc but he also took a defensive approach while facing the spinners with the old ball. Kohli completed his half-century off 107 balls.
