Fantastic first  day for Oz. India out for less than 200 and Oz 0-40 in reply.

Lyon with 8 wickets of sharp turn and high bounce.

Given we all had low expectations for this team who were decimated by South Africa in the first two tests on Oz soil, and annihilated in the last two away series in subcontinental conditions in the UAE and Sri Lanka, the Oz performances in India so far have been a pleasant surprise.

I am rather shocked that O'Keefe and Lyon have managed to roll India three times for such low scores.

They've certainly improved in subcontinental conditions.

After the second day, I can see why Shaun Marsh has been selected. His 60 plus innings demonstrated class.

He struggles on his own bouncy Perth pitches and bats much better on the subcontinent.

That was a tough day of cricket today. Renshaw's 60 was an excellent score in tough conditions for batting.  The Indian spin and pace bowlers were relentless on a pitch providing assistance.

Renshaw has surprised me as well, I thought he would really struggle. Marsh is starting to improve his poor test match record after being bad for a long time.

India started their second innings well, they are far from out of the test if they can get a three figure lead. 

India batting well and look good to win the test.

Two wickets in two balls by Starc and the match changes again. 

Pujara out as well to Hazlewood.

Ashwin gone as well to Hazlewood who gets 5 wickets.

Why is Mitch Marsh still in the Test team???????

Brings next to nothing with the bat. And not that crash hot with the ball.

James Faulkner is a much better option and has far better attitude. He wins the battle in his head. Always. And that's what counts.

India are going to win the test. They fought back strongly with the bat despite the Hazlewood and Starc inspired collapse and now have a winning position. 
India took a test and a half to turn up but now they are showing they have the better batsmen for the conditions and the better spinners as well.

I reckon 3/5 that India win from here

I agree with james faulkner being a much better option

one guy that escaped my notice is moses henriques

if you play an all rounder you ideally want batting average to be above 35 and bowling to be below 35 and he is the only oz player who offers that

Wade did well but I still think Neville has more heart and is a better keeper

we looked panicked the last two days despite being ahead of the game for a lot of it

We didn't bowl trying to build pressure and we looked like we tried to abandon our successful batting plans going for quick glory

40 runs in the first innings not only makes the second innings easier but gets more of a psychological edge which probably buys you an extra wicket or two.

If we got another 40 runs in the first innings we are probably chasing 30-50 odd

Khawaja should replace Mitch Marsh but we will probably get Glenn Maxwell.

no disaster but I think maxwells aim would be to bowl 5 overs an innings and get 30 run average for last 2 tests

We abandoned what worked so well in the first innings

bowling and batting in partnerships

The reality is that lyons 8 wickets much like o'keefes 12 wickets in the 1st test were earnt at the other end by sustaining the pressure. In the entire innings there was barely a moment where I can remember back to back maidens

If you can bowl 12 dots in a row you are generally a very good chance of picking up a wicket soon

our middle order runs (going from 5-150 to 6-265) was earnt by tiring out the bowlers. Smith's 8 runs soaked up 50 deliveries and two batters faced 200 deliveries. This tires out the opposition and gives you a chance to hit more loose deliveries. Its a different approach to engineering loose deliveries through aggression (our traditional approach) but it is an effective one. In the 3rd day morning session if we just rotate the strike a bit longer they should tire quickly after bowling the entire previous day. If you survive till lunch you probably have an unbeatable lead, a demoralized team bowling loose deliveries with the added bonus that their strength should be sapped for the second innings if they bowl again

Then batting the 2nd innings we were going at 4-5 an over which is a defensible approach in general but harder to defend when we have had recent success with a more conservative approach. Darren Lockyer always said that a captains job was to get a team to stick with the game plan when the pressure is on. That didn't happen.
I hope Smith learns from this

I've just seen James make a well compiled 0 in the current Shield game against Queensland.

He has  bowled well.

bad timing to get a duck!

To me he just has not delivered in making enough runs in the Shield.

Bellerive is usually quite good for batting too.

average of 32 and bowling average of 24 is a pretty strong record for an all rounder (if we want to play one)