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Rahkeem Cornwall makes it to West Indies Test squad
He is an all-rounder from the islands of Antigua and is perhaps the heaviest cricketer ever. He stands at a towering height of 6’6” and weighs around 140 kg.

Cornwall made his first-class debut in 2014 and has since become a regular for Leewards Islands, even captaining them earlier this year. He has 260 wickets from 55 first-class matches and finished as the leading bowler in the most recent regional four-day tournament.

Nice for Green to get runs, albeit pressure-free runs. Australia have declared during the interval, thought they might bat on for a few more overs and keep India out there. It shouldn't matter though. Expecting India to be a few down at stumps.

And declared at tea. So 407 to win or bat four sessions to draw for India.

Good luck with that.

Good review saves Rohit. Looked a good shout live so not surprised Reiffel gave it out ; but as soon as I saw the replay it was clear it was too high.

Now Australia are trying a referral against Gill...no. Didn't look right. Chalk up another wasted Paine call

Cummins bowling beautifully again...beating the edge , drawing the edge...
Chance missed for Australia through the odd decision to employ only one slip despite the huge lead. Second slip brought back in now but that horse is gone. However if he keeps bowling like this a wicket is surely coming.

Stand up to 70 off 21 as Rohit and Gill have been prepared to play their shots. Sensible I think : can't just let the bowlers dominate.

Also makes sense in that if the run rate is sufficiently rapid the fielding team will have to consider being a bit more defensive.

But I've seen this movie before in Australia. Sooner or later a wicket falls ... And these promising starts turn into gradual or not so gradual collapses...

And even as I type Gill edges Hazlewood behind...one brick out of the wall.

Well bowled Hazlewood. No idea why Gill then chose to waste a pointless review

Good half century for Rohit...but gone now , caught on the leg boundary hooking the deserving Cummins.

Probably not what India wanted with only three or four overs left in the day. Big lift for the home team , who have been forced to work hard this afternoon.

No nightwatchman. Rahane arrives at the crease at 92/2.

98/2 at the close. India very creditably battling away but I think it's a lost cause. Sometime between lunch and tea tomorrow , I reckon.

Pitch hasn't turned savage ; but the bowlers will just probe away until they get the breaks they want. Been all the pace men so far for Australia but surely Lyon will have a part to play tomorrow - apart from just ensuring the fast bowlers can rotate at tge other end.

Even assuming I'm right and this is a done deal it has still been a more interesting match than many that have followed this sort of path. Would like to hope India can somehow stitch together an XI for Brisbane that will give us a fitting (highly competitive) finish to the series...

Racist abuse should result in a forfeiture of the match, until such action is taken the consequences won't deter the scumbags.

I didn't watch after lunch and missed the Green, Rohit & Gill show......hope to catch up later on highlights.

By the look of score card 300 needed in 95 overs on last day......or bat out 95 overs without worrying for runs.
Stats and history would suggest both as "impossibilities"......BUT miracles do happen like Kusala Perriera in SA & Stokes vs Aus.....and for this one to get into the realms of miracle.....India should no more than 4 down at tea.

Means pujara, rahane, vihari and Pant have to score atleast 50s each
and in a dramatic finish Jadeja playing out 5 overs with the tail and a broken hand

in the absence of Kohli....the fast bowlers are not bowling as fast....each is a yard slower than his peak speed
someone has "advised" them to focus on line, length and control....at the cost of speed

Kohli Wants line, length and control AT SPEEDS

last time when he won series in Aus.....he set a competition between his bowlers on who will be fastest ( shami, bumrah and Ishant) and another one...that each of them should be faster than their Aussie counterparts EACH day of the series

Pitch seemed easier today during both Indian and aussie inning compared  to yesterday.....there was a lot of diving on the rise from botoh sides as an indicator.

Vihari will be playing for his career tomm....the dolly that he dropped was a huge life to smith that doesn't help his cause

Rohit played well & fell against the run of play as they call it.....and Gill made a criminal waste of a DRS review

Tomm's game would be two halves.....first 46 overs with this old ball..that I expect Indians to negotiate well.....and then another 46 or 48 overs with the second new ball in which Aus has to wrap up the game...and that India has to have enuf resources & resolve to survive.

There is 7% chance of rain per weather forecast site

Vihari will likely get the fourth test to save his career unless Jadeja can recover miraculously. They will need him as a spare bowler who doesn't lengthen the tail even further. Dropping Labuschagne early on yesterday wont exactly have helped his case, but if Jadeja can't play I cant see how they can pick a side without him.

Its easy to give India a hard time for this performance but they have are missing two senior batsman, and have another coming in cold. Started down three senior seamers and lost their second senior spinner and only all rounder during the game.

Frustrating because Australia have had elements if vulnerability, and there's been some distinctly unprofessional days like the first test collapse and the three run outs. Ultimately they are still in the series which is acheivement in itself, and the frustration is arguably because they are capable of competing rather than because they are awful and getting beaten without effort.

England are going to have a really tough time taking India on in their own back yeard.

Gooseberry wrote:Vihari will likely get the fourth test to save his career unless Jadeja can recover miraculously. They will need him as a spare bowler who doesn't lengthen the tail even further.  Dropping Labuschagne early on yesterday wont exactly have helped his case, but if Jadeja can't play I cant see how they can pick a side without him.

Its easy to give India a hard time for this performance but they have are missing two senior batsman, and have another coming in cold. Started down three senior seamers and lost their second senior spinner and only all rounder during the game.

Frustrating because Australia have had elements if vulnerability, and there's been some distinctly unprofessional days like the first test collapse and the three run outs. Ultimately they are still in the series which is acheivement in itself, and the frustration is arguably because they are capable of competing rather than because they are awful and getting beaten without effort.

England are going to have a really tough time taking India on in their own back yeard.

yes you're right....Jadeja's exit and give that Rahul is also injured and that Vihari can bowl off spin.....might get him another go in Brisbane

So India live to fight another day. But as alfie said, somewhere between lunch and tea, this should be done, particularly as Jadeja, who seemed one of the more assured Indian batsmen in the series missing, and Pant largely incapacitated. Pujara was looking more positive today, but tomorrow he's likely to get into the no scoring mindset if he lasts. That in itself shouldn't be a problem tomorrow as nobody would be worried about the run rate, but Pujara won't be at his best when he gets into that mindset.

Red KPF's recent response to my earlier comment on Pujara.
KPF, do you remember Pujara opening and scoring a Sehwagish 50 against Australia to settle a chase? His debut series knock of 73 on a 5th day pitch in the 4th innings? His 144 in South Africa wherein he took apart Steyn and co? Even last time round in Australia, it was at the MCG that he even smashed the ball over the boundary, not once but twice when he made that hundred! So it is not really that he's too limited a batsman who is capable of only surviving and pick up the odd run here and there and somehow labour to some kind of a score. The Australians have bowled smarter to Pujara this time round, and he has been slow to respond. He even let Lyon dictate terms, something he never allowed, even when he wasn't scoring a lot of runs of him. Pujara always kept using his feat, never allowed Lyon to bowl where he wanted. He was doing that in the first innings at Adelaide, then made a mistake, and think overthought it into get into a negative mindset. That adelaide innings was more like Pujara of 2018, there also he batted more than 160 balls and wasn't too dissimilar to the 50 he scored in terms of strike rate, but there he was a lot more assured and radiated control that he has not been able to replicate since.

The racial abuse issue is a big letdown. Authorities failing to settle things even after issues on day 3. Eventually 6 criminals had to be thrown out of the ground. Hope the state would initiate appropriate action besides what the CA should.

msp83 wrote:Red KPF's recent response to my earlier comment on Pujara.
KPF, do you remember Pujara opening and scoring a Sehwagish 50 against Australia to settle a chase? His debut series knock of 73 on a 5th day pitch in the 4th innings? His 144 in South Africa wherein he took apart Steyn and co? Even last time round in Australia, it was at the MCG that he even smashed the ball over the boundary, not once but twice when he made that hundred! So it is not really that he's too limited a batsman who is capable of only surviving and pick up the odd run here and there and somehow labour to some kind of a score. The Australians have bowled smarter to Pujara this time round, and he has been slow to respond. He even let Lyon dictate terms, something he never allowed, even when he wasn't scoring a lot of runs of him. Pujara always kept using his feat, never allowed Lyon to bowl where he wanted. He was doing that in the first innings at Adelaide, then made a mistake, and think overthought it into get into a negative mindset. That adelaide innings was more like Pujara of 2018, there also he batted more than 160 balls and wasn't too dissimilar to the 50 he scored in terms of strike rate, but there he was a lot more assured and radiated control that he has not been able to replicate since.

Pujara in India is different from Puajara overseas
Also overseas there have been a couple of knocks one in SA and another in Aus, where after getting past the 100 and with the tail...he did smash the ball around to pick up 30 to 40 bonus runs at the end
BUT he ( and many others) can do that only when in a nothing to lose mindset ...100 done...batting with Nos 10 and 11.

I too wish he can bat a bit faster....but that bit would mean scoring 63 instead of 50 that he did in first inning......and that won't make a material difference to the bottom line

I saw Cameron Green on extended highlight package and his batting style reminded that of Shaun Pollock
He bowls faster than Pollock
and if he can match Pollock's batting average of 32 over 108 tests....... and pick half of Pollocks 430 wickets at even one and a half  times his bowling average of 23......Green would be a proud allrounder when he retires

Coming back to the play today, India's catching remained even more pathetic than their running between the wicket. Jasprit Bumrah made to suffer badly, Vihari, Rohit and Rahane all letting the strike bowler down so badly.
Rohit and Gill seems like an opening combination that needs some investment and backing. I hope when they play Mayank for the next game in place of Jadeja, the opening combination is left undisturbed. But a poor review from Gill wasn't the smartest thing he could have done, it was worse than Tim Paine's reviews! Gill seemed to have thought he only hit his pad, something he actually did, but besides edging the ball.
And what of Rohit? KPF was very charitable the way he described it. But the way Sharma got out, embodied his test career so far. Utter irresponsibility and complete lack of game awareness from a senior batsman, that too the vice captain. Patric Cummins can produce nasty, unplayable deliveries at will. You don't need to convert his nothing deliveries into key wickets! Had Sharma survived the day, Australia would have been a touch wary about too many close in fielders. But with Pujara likely to go into absolute depths of his shell and Rahane likely to follow the same templet more or less to the extend possible, Paine would have none of those restrictive thoughts.

Some resistance provided by India, just the one wicket falling in the first 21 overs. Pant happy to put some quick runs on the scoreboard. Paine once again preferring Labuschagne's lobs to the bowling of all-rounder Green, which must not give the young lad much confidence.

Pant playing ridiculously well here

Yes it has been an excellent attacking innings from Pant to keep India, for now, in the game. Some gorgeous cover drives the highlight.

Second new ball ten overs away. It should curtail India's resistance and win Australia the test.

Pant ( recovered surprisingly quickly from his own injury, thankfully for India) has enlivened this session that could so easily have become a procession after the early loss of Rahane.

An aggressive 73 (great fun to watch) made it India's session...target only another 200 now. Pujara has been steady but not totally stroke less ...a good combination. Lyon - who has been a bit unlucky with a couple of missed chances by his skipper , to be fair - being hit out of the attack at times and forced Paine to turn to his spares.

However : new ball in ten ; not much batting to come in the unfortunate absence of Jadeja...still expecting Australia to claim this some time this afternoon....even if it continues to be an entertaining ride while Pant flourishes...

It does have Oval 2018 vibes. Where the end could come in a hurry when this partnership goes. But brilliant from Pant so far - becomes all the more staggering six batsmen and Saha played ahead of him in the first Test.

JDizzle wrote:It does have Oval 2018 vibes. Where the end could come in a hurry when this partnership goes. But brilliant from Pant so far - becomes all the more staggering six batsmen and Saha played ahead of him in the first Test.

Yes it is reminiscent of that one , no ? To be honest I was not surprised to see Pant playing like this - once it was clear he's not been hampered by the injury he took in the field . I don't think he is really suited to playing in a more restrained manner and frankly I suspect if he tried to play conservatively he'd have got out long ago.

Of course that is also the reason he isn't always picked just for his batting : the spectacular attacking innings are great but they perhaps don't happen often enough to outweigh the selectors' preference for what is seen as more reliable options. I presume he will play in Brisbane as a specialist bat , however they balance the side.

Think most of are expecting the collapse to come eventually ...but it's fun while it lasts

Not been for a good test for Starc, now even Pujara is taking him on. 6,000 test runs up for the gritty batsman.

Part one for these two batsmen is to get to the new ball unscathed. Part two is to survive the first ten overs of said new ball. Complete both and Australia will start to be properly worried.

Paine has mostly kept Statc to pretty short spells. And he's not been as effective as Cummins and Hazlewood . Apart from bullying the tail.

Presume he is fully fit ? I imagine they just don't want to flatten him , as this is the third match and they'll want him fresh as possible for Brisbane.

Fifty for Pujara Looked the best he's been this series : left the fireworks to Pant ; but he's been ready enough to score whenever the opportunity presents. As long as these two stay together the game is still alive.

Pant seems to be intent on collecting the "easy " runs before the new ball...really going after Green. 88 now and he certainly deserves a century - that is not intended as a hex , honest

Ah the end. A fun counter-attack which briefly gave India the flame of hope. Cruel that he didn't reach a deserved ton.

Australia now surely going to clear up with the new ball.

Ah that’s a shame for Pant - an absolutely fantastic innings regardless

It really wasn't a hex !

Pity he didn't get there. But for the match it's also a huge pity he's got out a few balls before the new ball. Relief for the Australians who appeared to be getting just a little edgy.

Terrific innings.

But door nearly open now as Cummins takes the new ball...

Vihari and Pujara not throwing it away easy...Lyon back already with a still new ball. Puvovski seems to have injured himself diving in the field...seems a bit accident prone.
271/4 and India are certainly making Australia work hard. They may come to reflect on their too timid first innings effort after all this is done.

Jadeja has the pads on , we see. Tough lad ; but going to be hard for him , painkillers or whatever ; they'd hope he's not needed until very near the end.

Lyon is a fine bowler ; but he does sometimes rather overdo the strident appealing. Pressure on the bats , pressure on the umpires , I guess. But it gets a bit tedious after a while.

Vihari now appears to have crocked himself taking a quick run ! Becoming a real Tour of Attrition...

Up and moving now so hopefully he is OK. Comms are fussing about his running ...but they are also on about India pursuing the target. I reckon that died with Pant's exit : it is all about survival for forty odd overs now , surely. And very unlikely , creditable though their resistance has been today.

Hazlewood bowls Pujara

Kept a bit low. But reckon that settles it...matter of time now.

Real beauty from Hazlewood to seal the test. Great effort from Pant and Pujara, but the target was at least 100 too many.

Ball really starting to keep low now. Still five wickets to go , and only three gone so far in the day...but we all know how quickly the last few can fall in this kind of situation. They've lasted a fair bit longer than I expected but batting the last four sessions in Sydney is a tough task.

Not sure the target was "at least 100 too many" though , Duty. They are likely to get within about 100 of the win as it is . I'd say the declaration was about right and Australia might have really been sweating had they set , say , 350. Though I'm sure Michael Clarke would have urged an earlier closure

Great fight from India...Vihari batting through injury unable to run apparently has scuppered any chance of the win

4/7 the current price on Australia winning from here. That's awfully generous considering India only have tailenders and the injured to come.

Gooseberry wrote:Great fight from India but sad they have given up hope of the chase, Vihari 4 off 54 balls!

Well Vihari can't run with his hamstring injury ...and even if Jadeja bats he will hardly be able to whack the ball around...the chase essentially died when Pant got out to be honest. Though they'd probably have kept playing their shots longer had Pujara stayed in , just to keep the Aussies honest.

Having got into the last session I reckon trying to block it out is all they can do...would be silly to waste all the effort they've put in with some frisky swipes that had no real hope of getting a result.

alfie wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:Great fight from India but sad they have given up hope of the chase, Vihari 4 off 54 balls!

Well Vihari can't run with his hamstring injury ...and even if Jadeja bats he will hardly be able to whack the ball around...the chase essentially died when Pant got out to be honest. Though they'd probably have kept playing their shots longer had Pujara stayed in , just to keep the Aussies honest.

Having got into the last session I reckon trying to block it out is all they can do...would be silly to waste all the effort they've put in with some frisky swipes that had no real hope of getting a result.

Yeah just caught up on that ... changes everything doesnt it such a shame for the game 5 from 70 balls now!

Running down 407 was a huge task anyway. But after Pant's pyrotechnics the target actually started to look feasible for a while. Had Jadeja been fit to bat properly - and Vihari not done his hammy - it might have been an amazing finish !
Certainly in those circumstances I'm sure they'd have kept chasing. As it is we are into one of those "counting down the overs" late order blocking scenarios ...which are pretty interesting in their own right.

This series just keeps on giving !

My money is still on Australia getting the wickets . But I'm no longer considering mortgaging the house to place the bet

25 overs to go...

Yep Jadejas not going to be able to bat properly either so hard to see India carrying it, especially with Aus being able to surround the bat and not worry about runs.

Aus picking up a few injuries in the field too, attritional cricket in every sense.

After 110 overs the fatigue factor is there of course for the Aussie pace men. The longer these two hang in the more that tells on them...though I'm sure one wicket would give them an injection of extra energy
I suppose when you've taken just three wickets in five hours getting a quick five starts to look a bit daunting. But they will still feel a ball is going to spit or keep low sooner or later...and then they'll be at the throat,

Literally and figuratively , probably

Closing in on the last hour...

Green brought on now. Apparently charged with trying the Neil Wagner Attack. Fair enough...he has youth and energy to spare. Get one of these and I reckon we'll see Starc back in action soon enough but they don't want to flatten him by using him as a battering ram.

Can't say Paine hasn't tried plenty of options. Though he hasn't tried Matthew Wade yet

They really are going to pull this off aren't they, last hour. Quite incredible .

Ironic that Vihari might have saved his career only to miss out on the next test to injury

Paine is having a lot to say...rather a desperate tactic but he just might goad Ashwin into a loss of concentration - or I guess that is his hope.
Has to be said Paine really hasn't had a very good match. No runs , few dropped chances , poor reviews (not that that is anything new) and he's probably getting close to a slow over rate sanction. He will be forgiven if he can work some magical bowling changes and get these last five wickets of course...

Blimey ! Even as I type he's dropped another one ! Starc draws the edge...dive and it's in and out of his despairing glove...

Still time : but it's a diminishing resource as we are into the last nine scheduled overs. Tense.

Was the drop another distraction tactic ? 9 overs left ....

Starc bowling his heart out. He's probably the one who could take three wickets quickly...but all of the pace men have put in a heavy shift today. And they still have to separate these two...

Five overs left. Batsmen will presumably try and make sure they don't have time for any more than that.

Hazlewood back. Looks nearly knackered after 25 overs but he's still on the money...can he produce another Pujara ball ?

Classic rearguard action. Hope Guildford was watching.

Hazlewood still pounding in but it's done ...time to shake hands on a draw , chaps.  Not sure why they're going through the motions of these last two overs.

Stunning effort from India  

If India can find eleven fit players for Brisbane we might see a good finish to an enthralling series.

Wonder if KP_fan and msp set the alarm today ?

Do always get the sense with Australia that if you take their bowlers deep in the second innings they'll tire and become ineffective. The issue of not having a fifth bowler trusted to put in a proper shift.

And it's official now. Well played India

All day for just three wickets ...quite the fifth day achievement.

Who will be MoTM , I wonder ? Tempted to give it to Pant because his innings changed the game so dramatically today. The late stonewalling wouldn't have been possible without his performance.

Love Test Cricket !