Hazlewood beats Sharma two balls on the trot. Cummins has been exceptional. For mine Hazlewood is not far behind. Has created plenty of chances without luck. 

hazelwood got the ball to talk a bit

he might be finally turning the corner in his form but stay a few too many wayward deliveries

Finally Josh is rewarded.

heroic effort by our bowlers against the conditions, the pitch, a classy batting side and morale sapping drops

if we fielded better they would be out for 350 odd and in trouble. Unbelievable to maintain that much discipline in these circumstances

can we send out 2 nights watchmen?

must bat 120 overs

Then if we succeed we can swing the bat and see what happens

assuming no rain there are 273 overs left in the game


if we avoid the follow on we probably only have to bat for 200

Our quicks have toiled manfully on a thankless deck in sweltering 40% heat. Showed great character. 

shama getting some movement but a little inocous from bumruh there

variable bounce a worry

have to avoid the follow on

India a good score, probably should have been better. However it seems the bowlers stuck to their well and if Siddle had caught Sharma it would have been a lot less.
Surviving the short period is great for the openers and for Australia

Looks like a draw to me.

so can anyone estimate how much the dropped catches cost us?

Amazingly after looking out of it this could have been one that got away. If india had to bowl in a heat wave on this pitch defending 350....


In any case if the pitch holds together we only need to get 300 odd in the first innings and its game over even without rain

Siddle dropped Rohit on 15 . He went on to score 63. Pant was dropped early.. scored 39. Now if I knew what their partnership was I would have an educated guess. At a stab I will say run cost was about 60. India declared on 443.

So what is the state of play as we head into Day 3. Some pundits are saying India missed a trick by its go slow in the middle and a decent portion of the last session. As I saw it our bowlers caused the go slow with their unwavering discipline. One of the best bowling performances I have witnessed from our entire bowling unit for a good while.

Once the shine goes off this new ball will it will be easier to bat on. Can our relatively green lineup bat most of the day and knock a decent slice off their score?  India's star batting rock Chet Pujara said batting became harder the longer the day went. He was pinged on the glove twice by length balls that jumped, while the ball that castled him never got above half stump hi. So despite all the hooha that this deck is a batting paradise and will not break up.. it seems it is and just in time for when our boys have to save a test match and the series. It is a huge mountain to climb. 

Agree with you gb re our bowlers & exceptional performance.
I thought Kohli would have liked to bat into today, but he made the right decision at the time - protect his bowlers & have a crack at us.
It will be interesting to see how they stand up by end of today. Kohli showed haw hard it was in the heat batting & for the way our boys kept at it was 
a true test of character.
Now we just have to avoid the follow on.

jj surviving the new ball unscathed is our first task. Then saving the the follow. Would have made our job so much easier I feel had we won the toss. Still, I reckon we are in for an intriguing days play. Dont ya love Test cricket.

Just love it

34C in Melbourne at just 10am. Should not bother India as they are used to these hot temps.. easier as there is also low humidity.

I am fairly confident with Harris once the ball softens. He did smoke a double hundred last time he played on this deck. Finch is a concern tho. He lacks the technique to play a long innings for mine. Wanna see him take on the bowling and unsettle the Indians.

Finch fails as an opener again. The selectors are morons, it is obvious he cannot be a test opener yet they keep selecting him.

Too late he is gone. Soft dismissal. His place is now in jeopardy.

Big problem once Finch goes.. we have four lefties in a row. That is making it so much easier for the bowlers as they can concentrate on the same line. CA has to find a way against picking too many lefties in our top 6. Does anyone else see this as a problem going forward?

Is it only me that does not feel confident when Khawaja is new to the crease?

Just reached 11am and already reached its maximum temp of 36.

Harris gets out hooking, caught on the boundary. Poor shot selection, very disappointed because he was looking very good. 

poor execution Harris. Both openers failed.  I can not recall the Indian batsmen playing any hooks or pulls..specially early in their innings. 

Scores so far 26. 26. 70, 20, 22 
Not out once to the really new ball but keep getting out in the 20s. Is he relaxing when he gets away and then makes a big error?

Harris clearly has a problem facing the short ball. Has to rectify that. 

This is the worst possible start we could have made when you are chasing a big score. Still 200 to avoid the follow on. 

If SOS Marsh fails time to say sayonara.

Pitch is breaking up. Footmarks very prominent.

We are playing 5 specialist batsmen. Two are not good enough, two are young and look good in parts but have issues, one is a proven test match batsman. We are in trouble.