IND vs AUS, 4th Test, day 3: India crawl back into Ahmedabad Test with Shubman Gill's maiden BGT century

A maiden Border-Gavaskar Trophy hundred for opener Shubman Gill powered India to 289 for three at stumps on day three of the final Test in Ahmedabad. Not only him, former India captain Virat Kohli also notched up his first fifty of the series. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara also chipped in with handy knocks of 35 and 42, respectively.

India began day three with both openers taking down the lone Aussie seamer Mitchell Starc, who kept bowling defensive line and length early on. Barring odd boundaries around fine leg area, it was Rohit’s trade-mark pull shot off Starc that saw the crowd go crazy. However, for the nth time in this series, Rohit gave away his wicket to Matthew Kuhnemann on 35 after a good start.

Standing tall on the other hand, Gill continued playing his short-arm jabs and kept churning out fours off bad deliveries. His partner Cheteshwar Pujara played a typical Pujara innings, tiring the Aussies in the 40 degree heat at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

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In the meantime, Gill notched up his first Test hundred against Australia and soon after Todd Murphy trapped Pujara in front with a straight one on 42. Then walked down Virat Kohli who looked confident in turning tables around this time.

As both started to look comfortable out there, the experienced Nathan Lyon came up with a beauty of a delivery to dismiss Gill on 128 off 235 balls. Like Pujara, Gill was also found wanting while playing a wrong line as he was caught plumb in front.

For the second time in two Tests, Ravindra Jadeja was sent ahead of batter Shreyas Iyer, and this ploy worked well for India as both Kohli and Jadeja kept rotating strike, further frustrating the Aussies.

Before stumps on day three, Virat also brought up his first fifty, the first since January 2022, much to the delight of everyone present inside the stadium. India ended day three on 289 for three as they still train by 191 runs.

Meanwhile, for India to punch their ticket for the WTC final, they need to beat Australia in this Test or else hope for New Zealand to beat Sri Lanka in at least one match in the home series.