New Delhi: Ravindra Jadeja scored a valiant 63 before India quickly slumped to 332 all out, taking a crucial 32 run lead at lunch on Day 3 of the fourth India-Australia Test at Dharamsala.
Resuming the day at 248 for 6, Saha and Jadeja did a fine job to combat a fire breathing Cummins and Hazlewood in another exciting morning of Test cricket.
Jadeja survived by successfully reviewing a caught behind decision off the very first ball of the day but never looked back after that. (Jadeja gets the DRS call right in less than a second)
Jadeja registered his seventh half-century in Test cricket and also reached 500 runs in the current season.
The all-rounder mixed caution with aggression in his 95 ball 63 run effort laced with 4 hits to the fence and 4 over it.
Saha (31) at the other end was gritty and feisty providing a perfect foil to Jadeja. The seventh wicket partnership of 96 runs in 30 overs with Wriddhiman Saha (31) could well prove to be the turning point on this Dharamsala track, where three Indian spinners will be in operation in the third innings of the match.
Australians though, came back hard after Jadeja was dismissed. Cummins finally got reward for some excellent use of pace and bounce. He first uprooted Jadeja’s middle stump and then got Saha with an absolute peach of a delivery that rose from good length.
India lost 3 wickets for 1 run before Kuldeep and Umesh Yadav managed to stretch the lead to 32 runs.
Nathan Lyon completed his five-wicket haul by picking up the last wicket of Kuldeep Yadav.