Australia 156 for 4 (Khawaja 60, Jadeja 4-63) lead India 109 (Kuhnemann 5-16, Lyon 3-35) by 47 runs
Rohit, though, failed to cash in on those reprieves. Australia introduced the left-arm spin of Kuhnemann in the sixth over and Rohit tried to take him on. He skipped down the track but got beaten by the turn, and Alex Carey completed the stumping.
In the next six overs, India burnt two reviews. On both occasions, Jadeja pinged Khawaja on the pads and the on-field verdict of not out proved to be the right one. So when Ashwin appealed for lbw against Labuschagne in the 11th over, Rohit was not prepared to gamble on using up the third review. If he had, Labuschagne would have been dismissed.
From there on, Ashwin and Jadeja struggled to hit the ideal length on this pitch, which was just fuller than good length. Ashwin erred on the shorter side almost right from the start, while Jadeja was too fast and too full. While batting remained challenging, Khawaja and Labuschagne capitalised during this period to add 96 for the second wicket. Khawaja did the bulk of the scoring with Labuschagne still looking circumspect.
Labuschagne was given another reprieve when Bharat failed to take a tough chance off Ashwin, the outside edge brushing his pads and flying over Kohli at first slip. He eventually fell for 31 when Jadeja bowled him with an arm ball.
Jadeja took two more wickets in the last half hour before stumps. Khawaja would be unhappy with his top-edged slog sweep to deep midwicket, while Smith would rue giving away yet another start. Bharat had dropped Smith too, off Jadeja, in an almost action replay of the Labuschagne let-off but latched onto the chance in the spinner’s next over. Those late wickets meant the door, although closing, was not completely shut on India as early as day one of the third Test.