“Aren’t you bored yet?” Nathan Lyon said to Cheteshwar Pujara at the non-striker’s end, after India’s No.3 had clipped one behind square the previous over to record his third hundred of the series and the 18th of his Test career.
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The quip, which was picked up on the stump mic, was testament to the 30-year-old’s resistance and revealed the frustrations in the Australia camp.
Pujara has been the difference between the two sides during the Border-Gavaskar series. Granted, at the time of writing he is one of only three batsmen who have played seven innings, but he’s scored almost double the next highest run-scorer in the series – 458 at 76.33 compared to Virat Kohli’s 282 at 40.28, who has batted the same amount of times.
Josh Hazlewood toiled for 2-51 but the other bowlers struggled on a hot day in Sydney. Hazlewood found KL Rahul’s edge in his first over, before Mayank Agarwal and Pujara put on 116 for the second wicket. The former fell for 77 trying to go big against Lyon but was caught at long-on.
Agarwal’s innings provided another bright spot for India. A mainstay of the India A team, the opener was given his debut in the third Test, scoring 76 and 42 as the tourists romped to victory at the MCG. He continued his fine form today, though his coach admitted he was “heartbroken” that he missed out on another opportunity to reach three figures.
Kohli (23) and Ajinkya Rahane (18) nicked off after making starts, before Pujara delivered another authoritative display that Australia are growing sick at the sight of.
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