India finished 3rd day by scoring 360 runs

Among the other Indian batsmen, opener Murali Vijay scored 82, while Jadeja remained unbeaten on 54. It was somewhat surprising, then, to see the horribly out-of-form Lyon, who also looked to have aged 10 years since Friday, come in as nightwatchman.

“(It was) tough to lose those two wickets tonight, they were some good balls from them.

“When I was batting, I was thinking anyhow we need to get close to that total”. He scored 104 runs in first innings so far.

Pujara batted with intense concentration to be 130 not out at stumps, and in doing so became the first Indian batsman to score a century in this series.

After Maxwell’s departure, Wade and Smith forged a quick 64-run sixth wicket partnership.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon trapped the big fish, dismissing Pujara to join the celebration. O’Keefe did a serviceable job, while Nathan Lyon’s callused fingers, restricting him to a mere 46 overs, cost Australia both manpower and penetration. So the batsmen will keep it in mind tomorrow. Saha was struck on the pad by the first ball he faced against Pat Cummins in the morning and was given out LBW but the ball-tracker showed that it was heading down leg.

A spinner who turns the ball away from the batsman can not afford to bowl short with a leg-side dominant field, even while pitching the ball a long way outside leg stump.

It was that man Jadeja, who looks likely to claim the number one spot on the Test bowling rankings from teammate Ravichandran Ashwin, who claimed both scalps.

This partnership hurt Australia as Jadeja brought up his sixth test half-century off only 51 balls.

Saha’s innings was encrusted with eight boundaries and a six. In reply, Australia ended on 23 at the loss of 2 wickets and the Indians smell triumph on the last day of the fascinating Test match. Cheteshwar Pujara’s store of patience and concentration ran to 11 hours and 525 deliveries. “It’s a case of obviously applying ourselves much like Pujara and Saha did today”, he said.

On playing the short-pitched stuff, Saha said, “I practice batting against short-pitched bowling at the nets under the eyes of the batting coach [Sanjay Bangar] and coach Anil Bhai”.

Though the pitch did not offer much purchase for the Australian bowlers, it doesn’t take the credit away from Saha’s brilliant innings. The last time a bowler has bowled 75 overs or more was Zimbabwe’s Ray Price – 79-19-181-5 in South Africa’s innings of 519 for eight wickets declared at Bulawayo in September 2001.

The former India captain has advised an injured Virat Kohli not to take risk by coming out to bat in the ongoing third Test against Australia unless it is absolutely necessary.

Glenn Maxwell (104) also completed a well-deserved maiden Test hundred. If any team could manage just one more victory, then they could win the series as well.