synopsis

IND vs AUS 2022-23: India fluttered again and handed Australia a meagre target of 76 for Day 3. Meanwhile, Umesh Yadav admitted that the pitch is tricky to bat on, while there are better ideas than stepping out to hit.

Australia needs only 76 runs to complete a memorable Test win in India. Still, the evil nature of the pitch has kept the home team pacer Umesh Yadav hopeful going into Day 3. Fourteen wickets fell on the opening day, while 16 batters got out on Thursday. The pitch offers plenty of turns, and uneven bounce has made the batters' job harder.

Nathan Lyon ran through the Indian batting on day two to end with an eight-wicket haul, putting his team close to a rare win in India. Umesh acknowledged that his team needs to put more runs on the board, but it still has an outside chance. "In cricket, anything can happen. We will try our best and bowl tight lines. Whether it is our batters or theirs, it is not an easy wicket," he said after Day 2's play.

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"It takes work to step out and hit. The ball also keeps low, so you can't be sure about stepping out. The runs are fewer, but we will stick to tight lines and push as much as we can," said Umesh, who did his job with the ball on Thursday morning by providing three wickets.

The 35-year-old, who doesn't get to play regularly at home with India going with only two pacers, bowled his heart out in the first session to help the hosts limit Australia to 197 in its second innings after resuming the day at 156/4. Umesh bowled fast and straight with a scrambled seam and let the surface do the rest. After landing on the middle stump, he trapped Cameron Green in front with a beauty that held its line.

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Mitchell Starc and Todd Murphy could also do little against a charged-up Umesh and saw their stumps being dismantled. "My plan on this surface was to bowl straight and push for a wicket or two. As a fast bowler, I must hit the deck hard and bowl in the right areas. I have played most of my cricket in India. My mindset is always to get a wicket," he added.

On the scrambled seam, he added, "There was seam movement. That is why I tried the scrambled seam. If it was not swinging, it was seaming. Whatever length I bowled, there was seam movement and skidding after pitching." With the bat, Umesh could not add vital runs for the team, as he and Mohammed Siraj both perished while going for the big hits.

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The pacer said on wickets like these. It makes more sense for a tail-ender to attack than defend. "We didn't get any message [to attack] when I went in to bat. My job was to score runs on this tough wicket. It isn't easy to get runs here. Rather than defending and getting out eventually, it is better to go for shots on a wicket like this. Even if I had scored 10-20 runs, that would have pushed the lead to 90. That is more important for me," he concluded.

(With inputs from PTI)