2.20pm India have gone 2-0 up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and have all but ensured they will face Australia again in the WTC final. Hope you enjoyed our coverage as much as we did bringing it to you. Until next time, this is Deivarayan Muthu signing off on the behalf of Andrew McGlashan and Chandan Duorah. Take care and cheers.
Pujara speaks to Star Sports: It has been a great Test match. Unfortunately I did not get enough runs in the first innings. It [scoring the winning runs in my 100th Test] is a special feeling and my family is still watching the game. We've won this game and it's the last boundary in a winning cause and we're still looking to win the next two matches. Oh lovely, congrats to all the guys (on his domestic side Saurashtra winning the Ranji Trophy). I was following the scores, but after lunch I couldn't follow the scores. Great effort from the team. I thought we [India] might end up chasing 200-250, but the kind of lengths...Yesterday, it didn't go our way and we conceded too many runs in the last session. The way our bowlers did today was incredible. If you look at this pitch, it [the sweep] is not an ideal shot to play with low bounce, but I've worked on it. With my game, I use my feet well and try to judge length as early as possible. I've always done that throughout my career. Not really, it was the initial phase when you walk out to bat. Some balls spun and some went straighter. Once you play 30-40 balls, it's a good pitch to bat. Once the ball gets softer, it gets easier to bat on.
Rohit: I mean fantastic result for us, looking at how things were yesterday. How we came back and finished the job was a great effort from the bowlers. Even though the deficit was just one run, I felt we were very much behind; we had to bat last. I mean on a pitch like that, you have to come out and try to do different things. We knew they were going to come and play shots. For us, it was about not panicking and we had to hit that areas rather than panicking. I've seen them bowl enough and take wickets on these kind of conditions. We had discussed some things in the morning that we had to do, and that worked for us. Look, every game you play here there is some moisture and what I notice in three days is it has a lot to offer in the first session. Then the pitch gets slower and slower and there is not enough bite in the pitch - it's something we focussed on. I had a good chat with the bowlers and they are masters of these conditions. It was important for us to stay calm and let the mistakes happen. When you play Test cricket, there are a lot of [big] moments, but I thought the partnership between Virat and Jadeja and Axar and Ash... to get that hundred partnership was never going to be easy. Even then, we knew we had to bowl well and restrict them to as low as possible.
Cummins: I thought 260 was a decent score on the first-day wicket and the guys bounced back well. I think they batted well - one or two partnerships - and it was evenly-matched at the innings break. Disappointing (on Australia's batting approach) - the pressure was right on them, but we will have to review what we could have done differently. Similar story to Nagpur. Some of it is down to planning and it wasn't easy when Ashwin and Jadeja were bowling. I think both defeats, this one particular when we were ahead of the game. So, this one hurts.
Jadeja is the Player of the Match once again: I think I was enjoying my bowling and this kind of wicket suits me. I was just looking to bowl at stumps and I knew they were going to sweep. I always keep things simple, and even yesterday they were looking for runs and their intent was very aggressive. Not on this kind of wicket (is the sweep a good option against you?)
2pm From an overnight 61 for 1, effectively 62 for 1, Australia collapsed to 113 all out before lunch. Although Jadeja wasn't at his best, he came away with 7 for 42 - his career-best Test-match figures while Ashwin, who had triggered the collapse and looked more threatening on the third morning, picked up the other three wickets. Australia batters, even the ones who aren't comfortable sweeping like Smith, kept sweeping/reversing and losing their wickets in clusters. All up, Australia lost six batters to the sweep and reverse-sweep in Delhi. Here's how the wickets tumbled. Things can happen very quickly on these sort of pitches when Ashwin and Jadeja are in control; today was another example of that. India's batters then knocked off their target of 115, with Pujara hitting the winning runs in his 100th Test match. I'll bring you the presentations shortly. Stay locked in.
ICYMI: India are through to the WTC final, unless they don't win either of the last two Tests, and if SL win 2-0 in NZ. If the series result in NZ is anything other than 2-0 for SL, then India are through even if they lose the last two to Aus
Sriram Sundar R: "Ashwin had said in one of his YT shows that if Pujara hits a spinner in the air in Test matches, he will sport half moustache. Pujara has hit two in this innings."
Malli: "Always fun Sanjay interviewing Jaddu!"
Karthik Siram: "What a day for Saurashtra at both National and International level! They won the Ranji trophy! At the International level, a Saurashtian took a 7-for and another took India safely home in his 100th game!"
Sachin Mhetre : "Who would thought India will win this match in second session of third day after they were 139 for 7 at second session of day 2."
Sowmya : "What a harsh reminder that a team has to be on top of their game every ball, every second.. Australia surely have to revisit their cross bat strategy. They have swept themselves out of the match!!!"
sravan: "Well done to the Aussie team for their first innings score. There were glimpses and sessions of play there that showed they could bat long if they applied themselves. These are some of the toughest conditions for any visiting team, but that's what international games are all about. Shut out all the noise and distractions about the pitch talks, and show your fight in the next two games."
Pujara's chance to seal victory for India in his 100th Test match. He has a little smile on his face
END OF OVER:26 | 9 Runs | IND: 114/4
- Srikar Bharat23 (22b)
- Cheteshwar Pujara27 (70b)
- Travis Head1-0-9-0
- Matthew Kuhnemann7-0-38-0
Ravi Bonda: "That's Bharat's message to Australia.. that's how you sweep"
Here is Head, who was originally selected for his bowling