Boxing Day Live Updates: Australia vs India, Day 3 of Fourth Test at MCG

Find all the highlights from the third day of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Australian bowlers back Smith’s 34th century

Australia’s incendiary pace attack obliterated the Indian top order on Friday, putting the Australians in a favorable position in the fourth Test after setting up a fearsome first innings target with Steve Smith’s 34th century.

At the end of the second day, the visitors found themselves at 164-5, still trailing by 310 runs after Australia bowed out for 474 shortly after the lunch break, on the back of an elegant 140 from Smith .

Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten with six runs and Ravindra Jadeja scored four, while three wickets in the final half-hour dented India’s momentum after a promising 153-2 start.

Scott Boland and Pat Cummins each took two wickets.

Captain Rohit Sharma returned to his usual position as an opener after bowling a six in the previous two Tests. However, this was not enough to turn around his disastrous form, and he was knocked out after just three runs, attempting a controlled jumper against Pat Cummins, which was easily caught by Boland in midfield.

Cummins struck again, removing the successful KL Rahul with a final delivery before the break, bowling him for 24.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, however, held his own with a top-flight performance, scoring 82 runs with great mastery of the front foot and many spectacular shots.

The 22-year-old, who had made 161 runs in the first Test in Perth, seemed on course for another century but unfortunately lost his wicket in a comical moment while mixing up a singles appeal with Virat Kohli.

While attempting to convert a single off a Boland throw, Jaiswal saw his teammate deny the run, leaving him stranded and thus ending a dangerous 102-run partnership.

Kohli, who was fined 20% of his match winnings for shouldering Australian debutant Sam Konstas on the first day, was trapped by Alex Carey after scoring 36 runs off Boland, this the latter having also eliminated the nightwatchman Akash Deep without any points.

The hosts returned to the game on 311-6 after a dominant first day and won back 163 runs, with a focused Smith smashing 13 fours and three sixes.

Smith began his innings with a score of 68, accompanied by Cummins who had eight.

They took 15 runs from an over from Deep before Smith hit a six off a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, underlining the frustration released by the Indians.

Smith reached his 34th Test century with a knock off Nitish Kumar Reddy, a performance which followed his return to form in the last Test in Brisbane where he scored 101.

It was a patient innings from the 35-year-old, who moves into a tie with four other icons on the all-time scorers list, alongside Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara. Only six people have recorded more centuries, with Sachin Tendulkar leading the way with his 51.

Once that was over, both players began to bat more freely, with Cummins penalized, coming out for a fine performance of 49, caught by Reddy in the deep off a delivery from Jadeja, thus completing a partnership of 112 runs.

Starc was bowled out by Jadeja for 15 in the first over of a lunch, with Smith then following in unusual fashion.

Facing Deep, he danced towards the wicket hoping to strike, but experienced an unfortunate deflection, with the ball bouncing off his pads and hitting the stumps. Nathan Lyon (13) was the last wicket to fall, lbw to a toss from Bumrah who finished with 4-99.

The five-Test series is currently tied 1-1, after India won a match by 295 runs in Perth before being beaten by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The rain-affected third Test in Brisbane ended in a draw.