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India fight after Smith's Ranchi epic

India's top order make patient start after tons to Smith and Maxwell guide Australia to 451

If India’s wounded captain Virat Kohli is to rival the impact that his opposing skipper Steve Smith has already wielded upon the third Test, it will require an effort of such courage and willpower it will be writ as the stuff of legend.

The lead-up to this enthralling four-match series was dominated by predictions of Kohli and Smith’s head-to-head battle, a fight that Smith has so far won comfortably having completed his second century - a campaign-high 178 not out today - while Kohli has yet to reach 20.

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That gulf seems set to stretch wider as confusion over Kohli’s ability to take part in the remainder of this Test, and for the final match in Dharamsala starting next week, continues to grow as a result of the shoulder injury he sustained in the field yesterday.

But with India to resume tomorrow at 1-120 - 331 runs in deficit - and with Kohli notionally able to bat in his customary number four position despite having been off the field for 400 minutes with a shoulder strain that has been deemed an ‘external’ injury, the stage is set for the home hero’s dramatic entrance.

Skipper's Indian epic steers Australia to 451

So competitive is Kohli by nature he is likely to be motivated as much by the sight of Smith’s dominant innings after their confrontations during and after last week’s second Test at Bengaluru as he would be by the finely balanced 1-1 series score line, with two Tests to be decided.

However, even with a fully functioning right arm and the prognosis of a proper doctor rather than the stooge who provided fake news quotes to reporters in Ranchi, it’s doubtful Kohli could fashion an innings of greater substance and significance than Smith did across more than eight hours at the crease on Thursday and Friday.

When his 191-run partnership with Glenn Maxwell – who himself posted a much cherished and just as deserved maiden Test century today – gave the tourists the advantage once more in a series that has swung back and forth like the rearview mirror ornament in a two-stroke tuk-tuk.

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A slight lead the Australians know they will be hard pressed to convert into a position of dominance, given the lack of demons in the Ranchi pitch that was relentlessly demonised before a ball was bowled.

And the batting strength that India boasts, even if their best-performed player of the series to date (opener KL Rahul) became Patrick Cummins’ first Test wicket in almost six years this evening, and Kohli’s availability remains open to countless – so far unanswered – questions.

Cummins bags his first Test scalp since 2011

If Smith was impassive in compiling a patient century on the Test’s opening day, he proved impassable in stretching it to 178 today before he literally ran out of batting partners.

The final one, lumbering tailender Josh Hazlewood, found despairingly short of his crease by a smart, look-away backhand throw down of the bowler’s end stumps as Smith desperately sought to farm the strike.

His need to squeeze as many runs as possible from a pitch that might yet live up to some of the pre-match hysteria about its nature was understandable.

Given that twice during England’s five-match series in India last year the tourists reached 400 when batting first, only to be mown down by more than an innings.

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But the captain had done more than any member of his team to carry them to that position after they listed at 4-140 midway through day one, and more than all but two Australia Test batters of the past have managed on Indian soil.

If not for the regular loss of wickets at the other end – Maxwell being the only other Australian to reach 45 – Smith could conceivably still be batting, such was his level of comfort and competence on a pitch that was challenging but rarely threatening.

In the process he would have overtaken Dean Jones’ epic 210 in the famous 1986 tied Test at Madras, which remains the highest total by an Australian in India, and would be closing in on Mark Taylor’s fabled 334 not out at Peshawar in 1998 for the highest by a visiting batter in Asia.

Image Id: DF6A37033A69492A85F1EF336DF1AB24 Image Caption: Australia's dressing-room acknowledges Maxwell's maiden ton // BCCI

The fact that Smith has looked at least a league above every other batter in this bowler-dominated series thus far – including those born and raised on India pitches – is underscored by his ever-more imposing career record.

He is now the only player other than Australia’s statistical aberration Sir Donald Bradman to average more than 61 (currently 61.5) having played a minimum of 50 Tests.

However, it was difficult to avoid the conclusion as Smith left the field an hour-and-a-bit after lunch to generous applause from the crowd that he felt some runs had been left out there.

Quite possibly the ones that India’s openers Rahul and Vijay tucked into so gratefully to post their team’s most productive opening stand of the series to date, and build a foundation that did little to ease Smith’s nagging unease.

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If Australia were to gorge themselves as is customary at Indian buffet dinners, it was Smith and Maxwell who needed to load their plates the highest.

The day could scarcely have yielded a less authoritative start, when Maxwell’s gentle forward defensive push to the morning’s first delivery saw his bat snap clean in half, and startled bowler Umesh Yadav flex his right bicep in response.

Maxwell's bat-breaking start to day two

As if to suggest it was the force of the paceman’s arm rather than some inherent flaw in the willow that had precipitated the break, that India would have gladly swapped for a breakthrough.

But the allrounder's concentration was not so easily cracked, and despite copping a couple of snorting bouncers subsequently from Umesh and finding himself encircled by close fielders as his career-defining milestone crept stealthily closer, the moment arrived to Maxwell’s undisguised elation.

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A cut shot that sailed between slips and gully with only a moment’s concern from the batter, who then clenched both fists and collapsed into a spontaneous, sweaty man hug with his captain as Maxwell struggled to regain his composure.

Another run later and Maxwell was on his way, falling to one of those strokes he had admonished himself over during the course of his four-hour innings, where he stepped away and try to cut a ball close to his body only to feather a catch behind.

Maxwell celebrates emotional Test century

The Australians have said all series they are prepared to wear the consequences of playing 'inside' the ball and getting beaten on the outside of the bat rather than risking the converse, which was so often their downfall in Sri Lanka last year.

Where playing for spin that never arrived saw wickets tumble one after another to bowlers who zeroed in on the stumps or the pads with almost hypnotic powers.

However, it’s doubtful the tourists would have enjoyed watching three wickets fall in the space of 64 runs to that mode of dismissal they had previously deemed acceptable.

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Maxwell followed by Matthew Wade (after making 37 that was as assured as it was useful) and then Pat Cummins (0 from two balls in his comeback innings) in quick succession, both undone by India’s stand-out bowler Ravindra Jadeja.

Nothing spoke of India’s enforced change of on-field leadership quite like the role played by Jadeja, who is now the series’ leading wicket-taker with his 5-124 in Australia’s innings at Ranchi propelling him to a campaign tally of 17 at 19.35 runs each.

Jadeja's unplayable delivery gives India hope

Despite the constant threat he poses with his claustrophobically accurate left-arm spin, it's clear that Kohli prefers to employ his gun off-spinner Ravi Ashwin as his principal slow-bowling option.

From the time that Kohli left the field nursing that shoulder strain, Jadeja bowled more than 36 overs compared to Ashwin’s 21 and claimed a further four scalps while his more celebrated spin partner went wicketless.

Other claims about the way India play their Test cricket with and without Kohli were less definitive, as the home team’s top order showed across 40 largely hassle-free overs this evening that batting was far more straightforward than anyone dared predict pre-game.

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And that getting batters out with neither bounce nor pace nor seam nor swing to aid the bowlers was going to require far more than Kohli’s undoubtedly powerful personality, and capacity to get under his rivals’ skin.

The India captain had appeared on the field prior to play resuming this morning, raising expectations (in line with the India team’s media statement of the previous evening) that he might rejoin the game he left in obvious pain on Thursday afternoon.

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But his involvement was limited to a lengthy chat to his troops in a tightly formed huddle, and then more casual conversations with members of his coaching staff before he returned to the team dressing room.

Not to be seen, in person or in formal word, for the remainder of another day.

TEAMS

India: KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav

Australia: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Steve Smith (c), Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Steve O'Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood