India v Australia: third Test, day two – live | Australia cricket team

69th over: Australia 180-4 (Handscomb 18, Green 18) Ashwin starts his over with 0-40 from 16 overs. Green adds another from the second delivery, skipping down to drive it to deep mid-on for a single. Field comes in for Handscomb but he’s getting low and stretching long to every ball, eyeing it onto the bat each time. Ravi Shastri is telling TV viewers this Indore pitch has “taken half a sleeping tablet overnight”. It must’ve taken a fistful of Viagra yesterday, Ravi.

68th over: Australia 179-4 (Handscomb 18, Green 17) Just the no-ball from this over as Ravi Ashwin warms up in the deep, desperately trying to get captain Sharma’s attention. He’s got it. Strap yourself in, folks.

67th over: Australia 178-4 (Handscomb 18, Green 17) Australia ever-so slowly turns the screws on India and their lead creeps to 70 runs.

66th over: Australia 178-4 (Handscomb 18, Green 17) Peter Handscomb has been a Rock for Australia all series. He hasn’t scored as many runs as he might’ve liked but his best innings have come at the right time. Jadeja has bowled 134 balls to Handscomb The Hat who has scored 57 runs against him (so far). No Australian batter has survived as many balls.

66th over: Australia 177-4 (Handscomb 17, Green 17) The Hat hits a four! It was fully-pitched by Jadeja and Handscomb drove at it firmly enough to get a glancing shot away past slip and all the way to the deep third man boundary. He turns the screw another notch with a single.

65th over: Australia 172-4 (Handscomb 12, Green 17) The Man in the White Hat saunters a single from Axar Patel’s first ball. This partnership between he and Green is worth 26 runs from 96 balls. Slow going, sure, but safe scoring too. It’s exactly what Australia need at the moment. Cool heads on a hot day.

64th over: Australia 171-4 (Handscomb 11, Green 17) He wears big strides and he takes big strides. Cam Green puts both to cunning effect against Jadeja as he hops one huge step down the pitch and takes an almighty swing to send Jadeja off the toe of the bat but safely bouncing it just inside the boundary rope. Four!

63rd over: Australia 167-4 (Handscomb 11, Green 13) Green sees out a maiden from Patel, the first scoreless over of his four so far in this innings. With his big white hat, bow-legged gait and (so far) holstered pistols Pete Handscomb reminds me of someone

62nd over: Australia 167-4 (Handscomb 11, Green 13) The arm wrestle continues as Jadeja wheels in to Handscomb who looks solid and calm but isn’t scoring much. How long will this natural-born stroke-player keep his powder dry? He’s got plenty of time to bat and Australia have plenty of batting to come so he coolly scampers a single from the last to retain strike to Patel.

61st over: Australia 166-4 (Handscomb 10, Green 13) Here comes Axar Patel, India’s third spinner but arguably its most promising. He’s been severely overshadowed by Ashwin and Jadeja so far this series though and this is just his 35th over. Green stabs a single from the third as Handscomb seeks to further infuriate India by donning a white floppy hat for this over. Lovely touch, Pete. He complements the look with an elegant clip to third man for a single.

60th over: Australia 164-4 (Handscomb 9, Green 12) Handscomb pummels a loose first ball from Jadeja but it can’t break the circle and yields only a single. Still, it brings his strike rate to 100 from the last two deliveries but 15 overall. It’s a frustrating stat for Jadeja who appeals madly for caught behind on the fourth. But he’s alone in the shout and India have no reviews left.

59th over: Australia 162-4 (Handscomb 8, Green 11) Another bouncer from Siraj! But you’ve got to hit the deck hard to steeple it to Cam Green’s two metre chin. This one he keeps his eye on and parries away easily to fine leg for a single. Handscomb is watchful again to Siraj, middling everything, scoring nothing… until he helps a wide one down leg side to the fine leg fielder. He has faced 52 balls for his eight runs and Australia’s lead is now 53.

58th over: Australia 160-4 (Handscomb 7, Green 10) Good duel here between Ravi Jadeja and Peter Handscomb. The latter has been wonderful on this tour, batting smart and batting long. Unlike most of his teammates, the 31-year-old Victorian has been to India before. He’s playing for an Ashes berth in this Test, happy to stay scoreless this morning and see out another maiden.

57th over: Australia 160-4 (Handscomb 7, Green 10) Supreme from Green! That’s his trademark shot – a big man leaning softly into a full-pitched delivery straying to off and sending it skidding across the turf to the boundary. That’s his first four and it’s a sweet one. Siraj shows his appreciation by bouncing him. Great bit of chin music too. Green ducked his head but kept his hands high and gets hit hard. Not sure it hit the injured finger of Green but it sowed a bad seed in his brain.

56th over: Australia 156-4 (Handscomb 7, Green 6) Here comes Ravi Jadeja who finally found his radar to yesterday to snare four wickets from his 24 overs (albeit for 63 runs). Handscomb is happy to meet the first four on the half volley, crouching low, seeing out a maiden.

55th over: Australia 156-4 (Handscomb 7, Green 6) Here we go, folks. Cameron Green standing tall (198cm to be precise) to the Hyderabad Express Mohammed Siraj. Green confidently comes forward to the first few, driving through the line with a straight bat and firm eye. But Siraj fields well off his bowling and the next shot to extra cover can’t pierce the inner-circle of fielders. Bit of a kerfuffle on the fifth as Green backs away very late, waving at something behind Siraj’s arm. Fast bowlers love that, Cam, just don’t ask him to remove his sweat bands!

But all the chuntering in the chat rooms of the cricketing netherworld is about this Six Demon Bag of a pitch served up at Indore. Darryl from South Africa emailed overnight with these sage words…

“The ICC must stop the prepping of both dustbowls and greentops. The only way to minimise the lopsidedness of home-ground preparation and the importance of winning the toss is to abolish the latter by allowing the visiting team to choose whether to bat or bowl. That would certainly stop this devious pitch-preparation nonsense. I am shocked by what India has done with pitches for this series but … Live by the dustbowl, die by it too.”

After the world was thrilled to its marrow by New Zealand blowing up “Bazball” in their one-run win over England, the love for Test cricket is at an all-time high

For those who came in late… here’s how our own Geoff Lemon saw Day 1

Howdy cricket fans and welcome back to Indore for day two of the third Test between India and Australia in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. I’m Angus Fontaine and I’ll be your benevolent Blogfather for the next few hours.

We’ve had some crazy days in this series but none crazier than yesterday – a wicket with the very first ball of the day, two in the first over – yet neither given out and neither reviewed. India flayed six boundaries from the next four overs and looked to be flying when the worm turned, then transformed into a cobra. From 27-0, India quickly slumped to 34-2, then 45-5 and finally 88-8. Ultimately, inside 150 minutes of mayhem, the home side were decimated for 109. The visitors then coolly carved out an unbeaten 156-4 – a 47 run lead worth its weight in gold, with six wickets still up their sleeve.

On a dirty, dusty pitch tailor-made for India’s spin kings, it was Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy who were the day one destroyers. India’s batters collapsed just as abjectly as Australia’s had in Nagpur and Delhi. The difference was, this time the green caps batted smartly and patiently, banishing the sweep stakes that cost them in the last match, to take the upper hand.

Can they keep it? At Nagpur Australia fought their way back to get even, only to implode again. In Delhi, they got themselves in front before one of the most brainless and spineless collapses in history. Here, their top-order of Usman Khawaja (60), Marnus Labuschagne (31) and Steve Smith (26) have shown what it takes to survive and prosper. Can last established batter Peter Handscomb and returned allrounder Cameron Green ram home the advantage today?

Batten down hatches and buckle up britches. We’ll be underway shortly…