India staged a remarkable fightback on the second day of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, thanks to impressive bowling performances from fast bowler Umesh Yadav and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The duo picked up three wickets each to bowl out Australia for just 197 runs in their first innings at the Holkar Stadium.
Despite falling short of the 200-run mark by just three runs, Australia had a healthy lead of 88 runs. The first hour of play belonged to the visitors, as India struggled to make any breakthroughs in the first 16 overs. However, after the drinks break, the game took a dramatic turn as Umesh and Ashwin tore through the Australian batting line-up.
Umesh's reverse swing was particularly impressive as he reached 100 Test wickets at home, while Ashwin was able to extract turn and use flight to trigger a batting meltdown. The Australian team lost their last six wickets for just 11 runs in 28 balls, leaving India with a chance to turn the game in their favor.
Resuming from 156/4, the pitch seemed less difficult to play on than it was on the first day. Ravindra Jadeja found some turn, but it wasn't enough to threaten Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green. Green was able to score the first boundary of the day by driving past mid-off against Mohammed Siraj and then took another four off Jadeja with a straight bat.
However, Handscomb's solid defense was eventually broken by Ashwin, who managed to extract sharp turn to take the inner edge and send the ball towards the forward short leg. Green was next to depart, trapped lbw by Umesh, who produced a brilliant delivery to beat the outside edge of Mitchell Starc and send his off-stump cartwheeling.
Ashwin struck again when he had Alex Carey playing down the wrong line and trapping him lbw. Umesh then sent Todd Murphy's off-stump for a walk before Ashwin finished off the innings by bowling Nathan Lyon, who missed the ball while attempting a sweep shot.
It was an impressive display of bowling from Umesh and Ashwin, who gave India a chance to claw back into the game after a difficult first day. With Australia holding a lead of 88 runs, the pressure will be on India's batting line-up to deliver a strong performance in their second innings.
Brief Scores: Australia 197 in 76.3 overs (Usman Khawaja 60, Marnus Labuschagne 21; Ravindra Jadeja 4/78, Umesh Yadav 3/12) lead India 109 in 33.3 overs by 88 runs