India will need to bat well for the best part of two days if they need to stave off defeat in the second Test match of the four-game series against Australia.
Australia V India 2nd Test Day 3 Live: India On Back-Foot After Clarke 300
Michael Clarke’s 300 ensured that India now needs to bat really well for two days to avoid the ignominy of a heavy defeat.
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Trailing by 354 runs at stumps, India now have eight wickets and two days to bat to avoid, what will be their sixth successive defeat in Test matched abroad. Gautam Gambhir was batting on a well-made 68 while Sachin Tendulkar was eight not-out when stumps were drawn on the third day of the Test match.
Australia batted for 47 overs on the third day and in the process, went on to add 177 runs to their overnight score. In the process, the overnight pair of Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey remained undefeated.
Clarke went on to register a triple-century, the first of his career and only second in Australia, while Hussey scored 150 before the Aussies declared at a mammoth 659/4. Australia had lost their first three wickets for 37 at one stage and not too many would have given them too many chances to get to 659/4.
Trailing by 468, India lost Virender Sehwag early in the innings to a cut shot to Dave Warner, but the side was rescued by the second wicket stand between Gambhir and Rahul Dravid, that yielded 82.
Dravid, though, looked uncomfortable throughout his stay and was finally dismissed for 29 as the Indians pulled their shutters down in the last one hour of play.
When play resumes on the fourth day, Gambhir and Tendulkar will need bat out of their skins and deep into the day for them to have any chance of saving the game. Tendulkar will also be gunning for a 100th international century.
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