India vs Australia Highlights, 4th Test Day 3: Nitish Reddy headlines IND comeback with maiden ton, trail by 116 runs

India vs Australia Highlights, 4th Test Day 3: Nitish Kumar Reddy got his maiden ton.

India vs Australia Highlights, 4th Test Day 3: Nitish Kumar Reddy’s maiden ton initiated comeback mode for India on Day 3 of the ongoing fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match vs Australia, in Melbourne on Saturday. The all-rounder remained unbeaten at 105* off 176 balls, as India reached 358/9 in 116 overs at Stumps, in response to Australia’s first innings total of 474 and trail by 116 runs. It has been a comeback of the ages as Nitish walked into bat with India at 191/6. Rishabh Pant was dismissed cheaply and then Ravindra Jadeja also departed soon. But Nitish kept his nerves and built a strong partnership with Washington Sundar, who also got a half-century. The pair anchored India’s innings for a late comeback and adapted well to the consistent lines and lengths of Aussie bowlers. Nitish will resume batting with Mohammed Siraj (2*) on Day 4 with one wicket remaining.

Reddy powered a counter-attack from India but Australia finished the first session well ahead, getting the wickets of Pant and Jadeja and thus reducing the visitors to their last recognised batting pair. Reddy was batting on 40 off 61 balls when Lunch was called and India were 244/7, trailing Australia by 230 runs.

Reddy started well but India continued taking almost entirely needless risks running between the wickets at the time. He came into the middle within the first hour of play after Rishabh Pant threw away a good start trying to go after Scott Boland. India were still trailing by 280 runs. Ravindra Jadeja at the other end took 24 balls before getting his first runs of the day. Jadeja's vigil was finally ended by Lyon in the 65th over. It is now completely down to India's last all-rounders to get them out of jail. There were two mix-ups during the first hour of play. Pant sent Jadeja back in the first one and it was the other way around in the second.

A cardinal rule in Test cricket is that matches can flip on their heads in a matter of one session, no matter the stage of the game, and the end of day two of the Boxing Day Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground continued to prove that. Three wickets in the space of four overs late in the day left India reeling heading into stumps, with Australia in the ascendancy and now certainly odds-on favourites to take a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India finished day two on 164/5, still trailing by 310 runs and caught in that now-familiar no-man’s-land of running out of batters with a mountain of runs still to try and climb over. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were the overnight batters, both having faced only seven deliveries.

India looked to have done well after a couple of early setbacks, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli both looking in good touch as they began to stitch together a century partnership in the third session at the MCG. Jaiswal had started taking the attack to Australia’s bowlers, quickly adding up the runs, while Kohli looked focussed and intent on staying at the crease to register a big score, leaving his bug-bear deliveries outside off stump and rotating the strike. Disaster struck for the duo just as they reached the 100-run mark in their partnership, as a mix-up saw young Jaiswal left out to dry and run-out on 82, looking set for a memorable big score at the MCG.

The dismissal, which came out of the blue and totally against the run of play, shattered the focus and commitment that Kohli had been showing. He finally fended tentatively at one in the fifth-sixth stump channel from Scott Boland, and only one mistake was needed from a batter who finds himself in the eye of a media storm Down Under. Nightwatchman Akash Deep was next to depart, a questionable move made worse as a thick edge onto his thigh pad looped up and was caught for a 13-ball duck.

Key moments on Day 3 of India vs Australia 4th Test:

- India post 358/9 in 116 overs at Stumps, trial by 116 runs

- Bad light and rain stops play

- The third session was off to a delayed start due to rain

- Reddy and Sundar's partnership was on 105 off 195 balls at the end of the second session

- Early Tea was taken at the MCG, India were 326/7, trailing Australia by 148 runs

- The Reddy-Sundar partnership went past 100 in 190 balls

- Reddy and Sundar's partnership went past 50 in 111 balls

- Reddy raised his half-century in 81 balls

- Nitish Kumar Reddy was batting on 40 off 61 balls at the end of the first session

- India 244/7 at Lunch, trail Australia by 230 runs

- Ravindra Jadeja fell to Nathan Lyon on 17 off 51 balls

- Rishabh Pant was dismissed by Scott Boland on 28 off 37 balls with India still behind by 280 runs

- India resumed at 164/5, trailing Australia by 310 runs

- India started the day 111 runs away from avoiding a follow-on