Skipper Steve Smith led the way with another torrent of runs as Australia raced to 251-6 and a lead of 348 over India before rain stopped play at the end of the fourth day of the fourth Test yesterday.
Looking to wrap up the four-match series 3-0, the hosts dismissed India for 475 shortly before tea to take a 97-run first-innings lead and then embarked on a fierce assault on the India bowlers in a bid to force a result.
It started poorly when spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (4-104) had David Warner (4) caught in the slips before Shane Watson played on for 16.
Photo: EPA
However, opener Chris Rogers hit 56 before he was caught at midwicket off Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Smith was soon back in his considerable stride.
The Australia captain raced to his half century in 44 deliveries and had soon passed Donald Bradman as his country’s highest scorer in a Test series against India.
Shaun Marsh came and went for a single run to give Ashwin his third victim before Smith’s 93-minute innings came to an end when Mohammed Shami trapped him plumb LBW.
His 71 brought his series tally to 769 as he walked back to the Sydney Cricket Ground dressing room to ponder a potential declaration.
Joe Burns took up the mantel and grabbed his maiden Test half century with three sixes and eight fours in his 66, while Brad Haddin ably assisted with 31 not out.
India captain Virat Kohli has been no slouch with the bat in this series, but he was only able to add seven runs to his overnight score before clipping a Ryan Harris delivery to Rogers at midwicket about 20 minutes into play.
The 147 helped bring his tally over the four Tests to 646, the second-highest by an India batsman in an overseas series after the 774 Sunil Gavaskar accumulated against the West Indies in 1971.
Despite the India tail wagging for the first time in the series and good batting conditions, Australia managed to winkle out four more batsmen.
They got some help from the third umpire to get rid of Kumar (30), who put on 65 with Ashwin (50) for the eighth wicket, after a referred decision that will do little to persuade India to embrace the Decision Review System.
Yet another dropped catch had stalled Australia’s efforts to end the innings when bat-pad Joe Burns made a hash of a chance off Kumar on zero.
The blooper was the 16th missed opportunity, which have cost Australia 657 runs in the series.
Kumar was eventually given out by umpire’s referral caught at slip by Watson off Nathan Lyon after a partnership of 65 with Ashwin.
Kumar tried to squeeze the ball away with his bat taking a chunk out of the ground. After many replays he was not given the benefit of the doubt after the ball carried to slip.
Additional reporting by AFP
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