Spidercam, sloppy fielding and two Indian centuries conspired to hamper Australia’s hopes of victory on day three of the fourth Test.
Dropped catches allowed KL Rahul and Virat Kohli to post centuries and guide India to 5-342 at stumps at the SCG on Thursday, reducing the hosts’ lead to 230 runs.
Coach Darren Lehmann asked his charges not to drop their bundle as they sought to finish the four-Test series with a third victory.
“Just play the game. Can’t change the past – if you could you’d be a millionaire,” Lehmann recalled of his advice at lunch, following Rahul’s reprieves on 41 and 46.
“Getting on with the job … you can’t worry about what’s happened. You have to try to create more chances.”
Australia did that with the second new ball in the following session, only for Steve Smith to put down a catch at second slip when Kohli was 59.
Smith earlier fumbled a skied edge when Rahul was 46, having lost track of the ball amid the moving overhead camera and its wires.
Rahul scored 110, while Kohli was 140 not out at stumps.
“We have to create more chances to get 20 wickets and that’s not what you need on these kind of wickets,” Lehmann said, referring to a strip described by Indian legend VVS Laxman as the slowest Australian pitch he had seen.
Mitchell Starc’s persistence was rewarded in the final session, coming almost face to face with Rahul to dismiss the 22-year-old caught and bowled.
Shane Watson was later on a hat-trick, trapping Ajinkya Rahane lbw and finding the edge of Suresh Raina’s bat.
Wriddhiman Saha safely defended the next delivery, but the scalps reinvigorated Australia’s hopes of victory after Rahul and Kohli’s 141-run partnership.
“We probably have to be pretty aggressive to set something up … we needed to speed up the game today,” Lehmann said.
“There’s still a lot of time in this game.”
Rahul was thinking likewise.
“We still have a chance from here if we bat really well tomorrow,” he said.
Rahul, mentored by namesake Rahul Dravid and renowned for the high price he puts on his wicket, channelled his inner wall in a vigil that lasted almost six hours.
He started slowly, as the tourists resumed at 1-71 and added 19 runs in the first hour of play.
Given the placid nature of the SCG pitch, it was testament to how well Australia bowled.
Nathan Lyon snagged the only wicket in the opening two sessions when Rohit Sharma played on.
Smith went from delirious to downright stroppy in the space of one ball, when Rahul took off from the non-striker’s end for a misplaced single.
By the time Rahul realised Kohli was standing still, he was mid-pitch and substitute fielder Pat Cummins had collected the ball.
Cummins, who was on the park due to Chris Rogers’ sore back, lobbed the leather to the wrong end as Rahul slipped and dropped his bat.
“I wasn’t worried,” Rahul said of his reaction to the let-offs.
