Hello and welcome to the live coverage of third day of the 2nd India vs Australia Test match at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The last night witnessed some true colours of Test cricket. A phenomenal batting performances from skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane kept the Australian bowlers at bay.


After the failure of the opening pair, these three took the responsibility on their shoulders and took the scoreboard from 8/2 to 172/3.


Pujara, unfortunately, lost his way in the middle but he stitched a 74-run crucial partnership with Kohli before getting dismissed on 24 off Mitchell Starc delivery.


On the other hand, the Indian skipper and his deputy slammed their respective half-centuries and have added 90 runs so far for the 4th wicket. The visitors are still trailing by 154 runs.


Here’re the playing XIs:


INDIA:


Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah


AUSTRALIA:


Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Tim Paine (c & wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood