Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was the lone thing to celebrate for the home side on the third day of the 4th Test against India at the Gabba, Brisbane. India started their day at 62/2 but was reduced shortly to 186/6 by the Australian bowlers.
However, then came a brilliant counter-attack from Indian batsmen Shardul Thakur (67) and Washington Sundar (62), who added 123 runs for the 7th wicket, with Thakur smacking the home side bowlers to all parts of the Gabba, including a six off Pat Cummins. This helped India make 336, reducing the 1st innings deficit to just 33 runs.
Hazlewood, who finished with 5/57, denied that Australia bowlers were fatigued and tired on the morning and afternoon of the third day, but said that they did let them (Shardul and Sundar) off the hook.
"Everyone pulled up pretty well from Sydney. Everyone's feeling pretty good, and I think (Cameron) Green makes a huge difference,” Hazlewood told reporters.
"There’s a little bit of frustration there, obviously. Sometimes when you think (they’re) six down, you’re well on your way to knocking them over. We just let them off the hook there and probably didn’t build pressure the way we wanted to,” he added.
Nathan Lyon managed just 1/65 in his 100th Test and has only 7 wickets in the entire series to show, as compared to 21 wickets in the 2018-19 series, which India won 2-1.
Hazlewood defended Lyon and said, "There’s a little bit of spin but not a great deal. Obviously, the Indian players are great players of spin as well and we’ve seen that throughout the series."
Australia ended day 3 on 21/0 in 6 overs, with a total lead of 54 runs.
(Reuters inputs)
