Resuming the day at 104 for 4, the Australians lost wickets at regular interverls. Hussey was caught behind by a beauty from Ishanth Sharma. Then it was left to Watson and Haddin. Watson stayed in the crease for long time than any Australian batsman and also lucky to get not out from Rudy for a plumb LBW from Ishanth.
Haddin was bowled by a beauty from Harbhajan Singh. He was beaten by flight and turn and lost his off stump. White also did not lost long. Brett Lee and Watson delayed the proceedings by building a partnership. For a short while, everyone thought that they may go beyond the follow on cut off 269. Let hit few good drives, especially from Ishanth Sharma and Zaheer.
Even the new ball did not deter Lee and Watson though Lee got hit on the back when ducking a bouncer from Ishanth. Lee greeted him with a kissing sign. Harbhajan broke the partnership to send Lee back to the pavilion. The new ball provided the bounce and drift. The ball took the outside and edge and flew to Dravid at slip.
Watson scored a beautiful and crucial 50 which took Australia close to the follow-on avoding total. He missed ball that pitched inline and hit his pads. It would definitely hit the leg stump. That was Mishra's fourth wicket.
With 8 runs more to avoid follow on, Johnson hit a six off Harbhajan to bring the target to 2 runs. Siddle, playing his first test, couldn't resist coming out of the wicket, but did not read the wrong-one. He was beaten by flight and Dhoni removed the stumps in a flash to give the debutant Amit Mishra the five wicket haul.
Though Australia were 201 runs short, Dhoni did not force follow on. The right decision by Dhoni because the bowlers would have been tired; or if Australia scored 350+, then in the fourth innings, India had to chase that which would be difficult. So, it is an apt decision to bat and add 200 or 300 to the existing lead of 201 runs. Score 100 runs in each session and leave the last four sessions to Australia with a target of around 450.
India ended the day with 100 for no loss in 23 overs. Sehwag reached his fifty and kept the run rate about 4, which was good. The next two session on day 4 is crucial for India in terms of scoring runs at a higher run rate. They can bat for another 55 overs in which if the score 3.5 runs per over, it would around 200 runs. Adding to the exisiting 100 and lead of 201, the target would be around 500 for Australians. This would give India four full sessions of 120 overs to bowl them out. Let us see what happens.
Scoreboard at the end of Day 3:
India 1st Innings 469 allout in 129 overs (Gamhhir 67, Sehwag 35, Dravid 39, Tendulkar 88, Laxman 12, Ganguly 102, Ishanth Sharma 9, Dhoni 92, Harbhajan Singh 1, Zaheer Khan 2, Mishra 0 not out, Extras--22 (b 4, lb 2, w 5, nb 3), Lee 24-5-86-1, Siddle 28-5-114-3, Johnson 27-4-85-3, Watson 24-3-71-0, Clarke 7-0-28-0, White 19-0-71-2)
Fall of Wickets : 1-70 (Sehwag, 14.2 ov), 2-146 (Dravid, 40.5 ov), 3-146 (Gambhir, 41.1 ov), 4-163 (Laxman, 45.1 ov), 5-305 (Tendulkar, 81.5 ov), 6-326 (Sharma, 89.6 ov), 7-435 (Ganguly, 119.1 ov), 8-442 (Harbhajan Singh, 123.1 ov), 9-469 (Khan, 127.6 ov), 10-469 (Dhoni, 128.6 ov)
Australia 1st Innings 268 all out in 101.4 overs (Hayden 0, Katich 33, Ponting 5, Hussey 54, Michael Clarke 23, Watson 78, Haddin 9, White 5, Lee 35, Johnson 9 not out, Siddle 0, Extras--17 (lb 13, nb 4), Zaheer Khan 25-7-56-1, Ishanth Sharma 21-4-68-2, Harbhajan Singh 29-9-60-2, Amit Mishra 26.4-8-71-5)
Fall of Wickets: 1-0 (Hayden, 0.3 ov), 2-17 (Ponting, 7.5 ov), 3-62 (Katich, 21.6 ov), 4-102 (Clarke, 40.5 ov), 5-130 (Hussey, 47.5 ov), 6-146 (Haddin, 55.3 ov), 7-167 (White, 62.2 ov), 8-240 (Lee, 90.1 ov), 9-262 (Watson, 99.2 ov), 10-268 (Siddle, 101.4 ov)
India 2nd Innings (lead by 201 runs) 100 for no loss in 23 overs (Gambhir 46 batting, Sehwag 53 batting, Extras--1( nb 1), Lee 6-0-22-0, Siddle 8-1-30-0, Johnson 7-0-43-0, White 2-0-5-0)
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