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Melbourne: Smith's 192, Haddin's return to form, and Harris' enterprising 74 gives Australia a potentially match-winning score.
India to the sword racking up 530 in their first innings courtesy skipper Steven Smith's career-best 192 and another fantastic batting effort by Australia's last five that added 314 runs.
In reply, India started strong with Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay combing for a 55-run stand for the opening wicket before Ryan Harris sent back Dhawan for 28. India meandered to 108 for 1 at the close of play with Vijay (55*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (25*) in the middle, trailing Australia by 422 runs.
Earlier in the day, India's inability to wipe out the tail was once again exploited by Australia after overnight batsman Smith and Brad Haddin (55) gave an aggressive start on a fairly cool morning at the MCG. Australia scored 130 runs in the first session to push India on the back foot. In the second Test at the Gabba, Australia's last five wickets had added 272 runs in their first innings to end with a total of 505 after being 232 for 5 and that time Smith had scored 133 while Mitchell Johnson contributed 88. The 25-year-old was once again the common factor at MCG as well as he combined with Harris (74), playing in place of Mitchell Starc, to add 106 runs for the eighth wicket after his association with Johnson (28) for the seventh had yielded 50 runs.
The Indian bowlers did not start the day well and as the play progressed their performance dipped exponentially. The four frontline bowlers conceded over 100 runs - the 26th instance this year that an Indian bowler had conceded over 100 runs in a Test innings. Mohammed Shami who blew hot and cold on day one, was taken for 20 runs in his first two overs and went on to finish with first innings figures of 29-4-138-4. Ravichandran Ashwin (3/134) and Umesh Yadav (3/130) scalped three wickets each while Ishant Sharma (0/104) went wicket-less.
With a maximum temperature in Melbourne being a pleasant 23 degrees, day two seemed to be the best day for batting and that was very much evident when Haddin, who was all at sea on day one during his 53-ball 23-run knock, started timing the ball well early on. He went on to add 32 runs to his overnight score off just 31 balls with the help of six boundaries.
For India, once again the pacers were guilty of bowling too short and gifting the advantage to Australia. It was surprising to see Dhoni starting the day with Shami to partner Ishant Sharma, and not Umesh Yadav, who on day one had provided the big breakthrough of David Warner with the new ball. Shami bowled short and wide and both Smith and Haddin took advantage. And when Ishant also started bowling back of length deliveries, the Indian strategy to bounce out Australia became all too evident. Smith capitalised and executed couple of tennis ball shots to take some easy runs. He drove magnificently whenever the ball was over-pitched and such was his confidence that the 25-year-old hit three boundaries to go past the nervous nineties and reach the triple-figure mark.
Shami however removed Haddin as the wicketkeeper-batsman, in a bid to leave an outside-off delivery, bottom edged the ball to MS Dhoni who took a good low catch behind the stumps. The Smith-Haddin partnership was worth 110 runs.
Aswhin scalped the wicket of Johnson (28) three over before lunch. But after the break, the pace trio were reduced to being bowling machines as runs came thick and fast from the bats of both Smith and Harris. With no support from the other end, Ashwin, who was able to stymie the run-flow on day one, was also taken for runs. Harris in particular chanced his arm against the off-spinner hitting him for three boundaries in one over. The Queenslander took 36 runs off the 43 balls he faced from Ashwin. The Tamil Nadu spinner however removed Harris as he went for an ambitious sweep only to be adjusted lbw.
Nathan Lyon added 11 before being castled by Shami. Smith, who went with an aggressive approach after the fall of Harris played some enterprising strokes as he neared the 200-run mark but Yadav cleaned up the skipper eight runs short of what could have been his maiden double ton. With his third ton of the series Smith became only the ninth player to score over 500 runs in a bilateral series between the two teams.
Vijay and Dhawan then got off to a confident start with Johnson and Harris also getting off the blocks in a disciplined manner. Josh Hazlewood followed up on the good work by his experienced teammates and kept the Indian batsmen in check with a probing line. Dhawan showed early promise getting on top of some good balls but he was caught at second slip by Smith off Harris. Vijay at the other end looked solid as ever and scored runs at a fair clip to reach his ninth Test fifty. Pujara at the other end struggled in his 69-ball stay and was even dropped on 12 by Haddin off Hazlewood, but managed to see off the day unbeaten as the duo put on 53 runs for the second wicket.
Brief scores:
Australia 530 (Steven Smith 192, Ryan Harris 74, Mohammed Shami 4/138)
India 108/1 (Vijay 55*)
Status India trial by 422 runs.
