This list is a good example of how long it can take for a narrative to shift. The widespread assumption that Australia are not just the better team, but a formidable outfit - especially in home conditions - is proving increasingly threadbare. It also goes to show how much Steve Smith’s extraordinary run has glued this unit together. As it happens, Collum Fordham has done just that, emailing: “Watching the match in Naples in the early hours with my son Alex. Fascinated by Ashwin’s bowling. He should’ve got a wicket in his last over. His variations seem to include both a leggie with a complete change of action or the subtler carrom ball which moved in like a leggie but bowled out of the front of the hand, completely deceiving the batsman but umpire’s call. In the end, he gets Hazelwood with a classic offspinner’s delivery which only just turned. What a bowler.” Indeed he is, and enjoying a superb series, the likes of which touring offies are not supposed to have. I’ve been especially impressed with the patience and resilience of India’s attack as a whole in these opening couple of Tests, including debutant Mohammed Siraj, who looks a fine player. Hello everyone, I’ll be with you until the close of play, which should be around a couple of hours from now, right? Unless India crack like a cartoon frozen lake and drag this excellent Test match into the final session of play. That means last orders for emails: jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com and Tweets: @JPHowcroft if you want to get anything off your chest. In these extraordinary times, the Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. Because no one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, we can keep delivering quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political influence, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. Your support protects the Guardian’s independence. We believe every one of us deserves equal access to accurate news and calm explanation. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will remain with you, delivering high quality news so we can all make critical decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Thanks G. Love, go enjoy some sauce on a lukewarm press box gristle party pie. India will need 70 to win Australia’s lead ends up at 69 runs. Not so nice. India have turned this series around, and now only need to finish off their work. Australia could still create some nerves with two or three early wickets, but given the tailenders looked relatively comfortable batting out there, it should be fine. The roller is on the wicket, the lunch break is taken, and India’s batsmen will emerge in 40 minutes to try to level this series 1-1. That’s the end of my time with you for this Test match. I’ll see you for the third, be it in Melbourne or Sydney or the Whitsunday Islands. For the fourth and final innings, and whatever twists it may bring, I will leave you with the lovely Jonathan Parfait Howcroft. If you want something to keep you entertained during the break, I may be biased but I’d recommend this conversation with commentator Jim Maxwell about his life in cricket. WICKET! Hazlewood b Ashwin 10, Australia all out 200 103.1 overs: Australia 200 (Starc 14) That’s the end of it! Lovely bowling from Ashwin in the last over before the delayed break. He flights it up, loops it, turns it from about leg stump across the batsman. Hazlewood wants to reach the break and leaves the ball. But it doesn’t quite turn enough, and it clips the top of off stump on its way through. If that were a DRS call, it would be not out. 103rd over: Australia 200-9 (Starc 14, Hazlewood 10) Australia’s 200 comes up! That didn’t look likely earlier. Hazlewood squeezes a single through the cordon. Bumrah the bowler. Two minutes until lunch. 102nd over: Australia 199-9 (Starc 14, Hazlewood 9) Starc finally opens the shoulders a bit, but sensibly, pulling through square leg along the ground for two. The last ball of the over is another DRS debacle. Not the fault of the technology, but the regulations. Ashwin bowls a carrom ball, hitting Starc in front of leg stump. The umpire says not out for height. India’s review shows it clattering into the off bail. But according to the ICC rules, the bails don’t count as part of the stumps. Nor do the tops of the stumps. There’s a line across the stumps from the bottom of the grooves, and half the ball has to be below that to overturn a decision. So you can smash the top of the stumps and it’s still not out. 101st over: Australia 197-9 (Starc 12, Hazlewood 9) This last-wicket pair just coasting along calmly. No massive swipes, no gallops. Starc glances Siraj for another single. Hazlewood defends. They’re doing well. 100th over: Australia 196-9 (Starc 11, Hazlewood 9) I neglected to mention that we’ve had the session extended because Australia are nine wickets down. Lunch was due 10 minutes ago but we’ll get an extra half hour. Bumrah continues to Starc, who glances a single, then to Hazlewood, who drives nicely through cover for two. Bumrah doesn’t like that, immediately forcing him back with a short ball. Hazlewood is catching up to Starc here which is unexpected. The lead is 65. 99th over: Australia 193-9 (Starc 10, Hazlewood 7) Goodness me, lovely bowling. The control of line from Siraj has been excellent, a right-armer bowling across a left-hander, but always close enough to make him play. Hazlewood has fresh-air pokes at a couple of shorter balls, then a fuller one that so nearly takes his edge. Still, he survives. Another maiden. 98th over: Australia 193-9 (Starc 10, Hazlewood 7) Bumrah has changed ends and is now approaching with the Southern Stand at his back. Hazlewood has first ball and does well, deflecting a bouncer behind square for a run. Knew what was coming. Starc gets no opportunity for a big shot, instead getting a good yorker that he does well to keep out, squirting a single to fine leg. There’s also a third man who is placed so fine that he’s basically behind second slip. India anticipating top edges. One regulation slip, one floating slip, and one gully. Hazlewood comes forward to defend and gets a run to a vacant square leg. The lead is 62. 97th over: Australia 190-9 (Starc 9, Hazlewood 5) Time for Starc to pull out the big shots in a minute. Josh Hazlewood has strike with two balls left in the over. And he gets off the mark with a five! How often would that happen in anyone’s career, let alone Hazlewood’s? Siraj bowls short, there’s no short leg, Hazlewood fends the ball there, leg slip runs in and fires at the non-striker’s end as he goes through, and the overthrows reach the long-on fence. The lead is 59. WICKET! Lyon c Pant b Siraj 3, Australia 185-9 Never mind, India. There’s a wicket. Not inspiring cricket: Siraj down the leg side, Lyon tries to pull around the corner from about hip high, and gloves it through to Pant. The lead is 54 with one wicket remaining. 96th over: Australia 185-8 (Starc 9, Lyon 3) Jadeja to bowl, as the bowlers keep changing. It’s like a T20 here, making sure the tailenders don’t feel settled. Jadeja bowls left-arm over to the left-hander, a line outside off that has Starc sparring. When Jadeja goes straighter Starc whips off his pads in the air, low, but it bounces before reaching midwicket. He plays to that position again and this time Pujara misfields and they get two runs. Then from the last ball of the over we’re upstairs for another long DRS. Jadeja spears in at the pads and Starc tries to play across it to midwicket. It squeezes between bat onto pad and lobs up to slip. Umpire Reiffel gives it out immediately. Starc reviews with a shrug. The replay shows his bat hit his boot, while just missing the ball. He’s still at risk of lbw though, except the projection shows it missing leg stump! Starc survives double jeopardy. 95th over: Australia 183-8 (Starc 7, Lyon 3) The field keeps changing: a leg slip in now for Lyon facing Siraj, with cover left open. Short midwicket, three in the cordon, two out for the hook. A couple of bumpers to start the over have Lyon getting out of the way, and I think asking the umpire how many short balls they’re allowed to bowl. Maybe he was just wiping sweep from his forehead. Siraj comes around the wicket for some reason, and pitches full, and predictably it hits Lyon’s pad and goes for a leg bye. Siraj was spinning to appeal just by muscle memory before remembering that there was no way he could get an lbw when bowling from outside the line of the player’s leg stump. Starc hasn’t score a run in a while, but flicks a single nicely to fine leg. We still haven’t seen a single big shot from Starc today, which is uncharacteristic. The lead is 52. 94th over: Australia 181-8 (Starc 6, Lyon 3) Ashwin to Lyon, and now we’ve got three catchers around the bat: slip, leg slip, short leg. The off-spinner drives cleanly straight back at the off-spinner. Then opens the face and drives behind point, taking a run. For Starc, three deep on the leg side, plus a midwicket 20 yards away. Ashwin turns one past the outside edge of a groping defensive shot, that was close. Starc kicks away a ball outside leg stump, then Ashwin tries his leg-break, a ball he sometimes throws in for variation, and lands it nicely on off stump, Starc also defending it well off the back foot. 93rd over: Australia 180-8 (Starc 6, Lyon 2) Always an entertainer with the bat, Nathan ‘Nathan’ Lyon faces up to Siraj in his bendy-kneed, bobbing kind of way. Loves to open up the off side and hit to cover, but gets stopped when he goes that way. Just two slips and a gully. Short midwicket in. Now Rahane pulls out cover and pops in a leg gully as well. Short ball coming? There’s a deep square leg, just in front of square, and a long leg behind. Lyon doesn’t mind the short ball too much though, loves a pull shot. And plays one, down to long leg for a single. For Starc there’s a third man very deep, and a deep square leg, with mid-on halfway back as well. No one within 40 metres of the batsman on the leg side. But Siraj bowls off side, from around the wicket, and draws a poking shot that nearly edges. The lead is 49. 92nd over: Australia 179-8 (Starc 6, Lyon 1) The lead is 46 as Ashwin comes on for the next over, Starc and Lyon the partnership. They add a couple of singles promptly. Nothing extravagant. WICKET! Green c Jadeja b Siraj 45, Australia 177-8 91st over: Australia 177-8 (Starc 5) The over starts with Siraj to Starc, right-armer to left-hander over the wicket, wheeling around in an appeal but that was likely pitching outside leg and maybe even hitting him outside leg. Some swing on show. Starc drives hard at the next ball but mid-on is deep enough to dive across and keep the scoring to one. Green gets enough width to leave, but comes forward to the next to on-drive for four! What a beautiful shot. Simple, elegant, that was the fine linen bedsheet of cricket. But the bed gets unmade from the last ball of the over. Short, about rib height, he pulls instinctively. It’s there for the shot. He gets a good piece of it, but hits it up rather than down, and Jadeja at midwicket gets off the ground to claim the catch above his head. Green throws back his own head in frustration. He can’t believe he didn’t nail that contact better. He’s played a gem, but needed it to shine for longer. 90th over: Australia 172-7 (Green 42, Starc 4) Jadeja on for Ashwin, left-arm orthodox for off-spin. He’s giving the ball air against Starc, outside off. Just watch for the faster one darted in at the stumps. Three flighted deliveries in a row. From the fourth, Starc swishes across the line and gets a run to deep backward square. Jadeja comes around the wicket to the right-handed Green, who stretches forward to defend and then goes back to defend. Between those two extremes he seems to be able to cover about eight metres of pitch. 89th over: Australia 171-7 (Green 41, Starc 3) Siraj comes on for Bumrah already. Rahane has been quick with the changes. It almost brings India a stroke of luck as Green drives into the non-striker’s stumps via Siraj’s fingers, but Starc backing up has just got his bat down in time. Maiden. 88th over: Australia 171-7 (Green 41, Starc 3) Still the sensible play from Starc. He has a short midwicket, a midwicket halfway back, and a deep backward square, all for the big shots from the spinner. He blocks away until the sixth ball, which he wrists behind square along the ground, and darts back for two runs. 87th over: Australia 169-7 (Green 41, Starc 1) Green to Bumrah, just wanting to soak him up. He’s helped when Bumrah strays down the leg side, smashing the thigh pad en route to four leg byes. Last ball of the over, no strike-farming, but it’s the shot of his life from Green! A slashing cut shot, down on one knee, through backward point for four! He sees the width but has to get down to it, and I’ve never quite seen a batsman drop like that for that style of shot. That deserves a phwoar. Suddenly the lead is 38, more than India made in Adelaide. 86th over: Australia 161-7 (Green 37, Starc 1) The previous three runs leaves Green to face Ashwin, and the tall batsman uses his feet so well to the spinner. Not charging, just very active around the crease, small adjustments, setting himself to address each ball appropriately. And he drives a single from the final delivery to make sure he has strike to Bumrah. He’s doing this really well. The lead is 30. 85th over: Australia 160-7 (Green 36, Starc 1) So there’s more onus on Green to score now, but he’s also facing Bumrah with a new ball. So he sets out to quell that threat first, facing out the entire over watchfully, and whipping the sixth ball nicely out behind square. Only the expanses of the MCG keep that to three runs, with long leg coming around to field. 84th over: Australia 157-7 (Green 33, Starc 1) Now then, Starc against spinners. Always an interesting thing. He does hold the record for the most sixes in a Test innings at the MCG, when he cleared the fence seven times against Pakistan in that remarkable Test of 2016, setting up a run chase and then bowling them out. His finest all-round performance. So the long boundaries don’t worry him, given he hits most of his sixes over midwicket, which is a very long strike. But he starts differently today, defending out a maiden against Ashwin. “If the Australians are finding it hard to increase their scoring rate against the Indians, I think there might be a player who could help. Has a Test century against India, can bowl some handy off spin, and is in pretty decent nick in the BBL...” You don’t need to convince me, Scott Lowe. It is nothing short of a national scandal that Glenn Maxwell has never been picked for a Test in Australia, while many other unremarkable batsmen have had plentiful chances with unremarkable results. 83rd over: Australia 157-7 (Green 33, Starc 1) Mitchell Starc to the crease then, with Australia leading by 25. He could probably make that 75 in quick time, but he’s less likely to stick around and make it 150. Which would probably make for a very interesting chase, later on the fourth day with the pitch likely to get less consistent. Bumrah comes around the wicket immediately and goes short at him, and it costs India a single as Starc flinches the ball around to fine leg. WICKET! Cummins c Agarwal b Bumrah 22, Australia 156-7 Bumrah does it again! Always, always Bumrah. Always at them. He bowls four sober, sensible length balls, getting Cummins comfortable in defence. Then he pings in a wicked short ball, and Cummins is one third protecting himself, one third evading, one third hooking. He gets glove to it, and it lobs away to the off side, into the cordon for Mayank Agarwal to complete the dismissal. There’s the breakthrough, and it really is a breakthrough for India. 82nd over: Australia 155-6 (Green 32, Cummins 22) The Cowan Ton arrives for Pat Cummins, 100 balls faced, and a very appropriate 21 runs scored. He celebrates with a single from 101st ball, cutting Ashwin to cover. That gets Green on strike, and he plays a late cut to a ball that was only fractionally short, and times it for four! A boundary, we haven’t seen one this morning. Look out India, the build is building. Pushes a single from the last ball, and the lead is 24. 81st over: Australia 149-6 (Green 27, Cummins 21) Bumrah returns after his short burst this morning to take the new ball. Immediately he’s getting seam movement, cutting one in to hit Green’s pad but going down the leg side. Green leaves confidently when it’s outside off stump. Three slips and a gully, with cover in place. Standard field. Green defends, defends again. 80th over: Australia 149-6 (Green 27, Cummins 21) Green brings up the 50 partnership with a little pushed single from Ashwin, and Cummins soaks up the rest. He’s faced 99 deliveries now, and the second new ball is due. 79th over: Australia 148-6 (Green 26, Cummins 21) Jadeja continues to Cummins, racing through another maiden over. A tray of individually partioned covid-safe cake has just arrived in the press box from the MCG to mark Gideon Haigh’s birthday. His response? “Don’t forget it’s also David Boon’s birthday, and Syed Kirmani’s.” “And Brad Hodge!” pipes up Jesse Hogan from the back of the box. 78th over: Australia 148-6 (Green 26, Cummins 21) Ashwin getting some serious turn, in at the middle stump of Green, so the batsman responds by coming down the wicket and driving a single. That was after he’d already driven two through cover. Cummins works a run behind square. The partnership is worth 48! 77th over: Australia 144-6 (Green 23, Cummins 20) Jadeja on to bowl now, and it’ll be double spin. Not a bad shout, with Cummins looking a bit more suspect against the slower ball than the pace. Jadeja rattles through his set at Sundaresan speed, including an lbw shout on leg stump that looked closer to me than the one they reviewed. Not out, and a maiden. 76th over: Australia 144-6 (Green 23, Cummins 20) Ashwin convinces Rahane to go up for a marginal lbw review against Cummins, but it’s clearing the stumps on the projection. Pitched relatively short so it was likely to struggle. Cummins gets a run from the next ball. An email from Tane Aikman. “What’re your thoughts on the Test Championship? I like it. As a New Zealand fan it’s increased my already high interest in this series and New Zealand’s against Pakistan and the Windies. Though I’m not sure what outcome I want from the India-Australia duel. Probably an Aussie whitewash, but that feels... icky.” Ha! Yes, we all have to make compromises sometimes. In the main I think the Test championship can work, it hasn’t had the chance to work well in this first instance with all of the pandemic cancellations. But some structure that protects the ability of the less rich nations to actually stage and play Test matches is important. And if it gets people more interested in series unrelated to their supporter choices, that’s all to the good. 75th over: Australia 143-6 (Green 23, Cummins 19) Siraj to Green, with that short midwicket in place so that Siraj can target his pads. A bouncer in there as well. A maiden. 74th over: Australia 143-6 (Green 23, Cummins 19) Another edge from Cummins facing Ashwin, who is not changing ends, and it picks him up two runs this time. Then he pads up to a ball that hits him, but would have been angling way down the leg side. No chance to con an umpire there, but it was either dicey or very well judged by Cummins. Matt Winter is back on the keyboard. “Swore I’d get an early night and yet here I am with cheese and biscuits. And port. Fevered dreams of David Boon gently caressing Gower’s forehead will surely follow. Then gout.” Gout and David Boon do seem to fit, conceptually. Not sure why but that’s the vibe. 73rd over: Australia 141-6 (Green 23, Cummins 17) A change already – maybe Bumrah fancies a change of ends, or Ashwin does? Mohammed Siraj comes on, right-arm brisk, swings the ball, has Cummins steering to gully for none, then driving into the cover gap for a single. Overpitched. Two slips, gully, cover, mid-off, mid-on, short midwicket, square leg, long leg for Green, who leaves. Siraj is the one who got him in the first innings, hanging a few outside off and then angling one in to hit the pad. Perhaps Rahane thinks that facing the same bowler might unsettle Green. Siraj bowls and Green leaves, perilously close to the off stump! Hands on head for Siraj. 72nd over: Australia 140-6 (Green 23, Cummins 16) This time Green finds his single driving down the ground to long-on. This is good accumulation. Cummins edges Ashwin, but softly along the ground to slip. Then gets a ball on his legs and jabs it away, airborne through an empty leg slip, for his first run of the day. The lead is 9 runs. 71st over: Australia 138-6 (Green 22, Cummins 15) Bumrah to Green, who glances a single. He’s finding runs easily enough so far this morning. Cummins gets a bouncer and pops down the elevator shaft to avoid it. 70th over: Australia 137-6 (Green 21, Cummins 15) Green drives a single from Ashwin first ball, and Ashwin burns through the over to Cummins, who blocks solidly. “I don’t think I’ve seen Ashwin bowl his overs faster in a Test innings,” says my colleague Bharat Sundaresan next to me. “He’s going through them like Jadeja, pap pap pap.” 69th over: Australia 136-6 (Green 20, Cummins 15) Bumrah to Cummins, who edges just short of slip! Rahane takes it on the bounce, tumbling across, but that landed a few centimetres in front of his fingers. We’ve seen a lot of catches not carry in this match, and then when the slips have crept forward they’ve dropped the fast ones, like those that Labuschagne and Smith put down. A maiden for Bumrah to the tailender. 68th over: Australia 136-6 (Green 20, Cummins 15) Equally unsurprising is that Ashwin will start the day’s bowling from the Southern Stand End. Rahane employing his two best bowlers from the get-go. Green gives a taste of what may be to come, taking a huge stride forward to just about every ball and defending it stoutly away. 67th over: Australia 136-6 (Green 20, Cummins 15) No surprise, it’s Jasprit Bumrah to start off. The ace who spends very littel time up the sleeve. Green starts the day positively, pushing through cover for two. Blocks out the next few, then farms the strike with a nudge. Up to 20, his first time to these heights in Test cricket. Martin Gillam writes in. “To lob you a half volley to start things off, is the Australian top six as currently configured the worst of its breed since the Packer split days when Australia was forced to field its Third XI? Hard to think of one that can match the entrancing current lack of form and technique.” Morning, Martin. I don’t think you can look at quality in terms of form. Every player has bad runs of results, which don’t mean they’re limited players. And no team with Steve Smith in it could be described as overall a bad batting team. Which doesn’t mean that the same team can’t bad badly. So no: Labuschagne has an outstanding Test record, Smith is in the all-time pantheon, Green hasn’t had time to prove himself one way or another, and each of Head, Wade, and Burns has multiple Test hundreds. In really weak teams, the best form of the available players doesn’t have a high ceiling. In this team, it does. Which brings us to the question of Green. Technically excellent, calm, balanced at the crease. He was unlucky to get out to a blinder of a catch in Adelaide, didn’t bat in the second innings, and got worked out by a very good spell of bowling from Mohammed Siraj in the first dig of this Test. There’s no reason why he couldn’t put something substantial together today. What chance Australia? Well, no situation suits Patrick Cummins better with the bat than when he needs only to stick around. He can play attacking cricket but it usually ends quickly. We’ve seen him play a number of very stubborn long innings though when he has a batsman to support, or when the need of the team is to last rather than to score fast. He did it two years ago against India on this ground, and didn’t stave off a loss but was impressive. He helped win the Ashes Test in Brisbane in 2017 in partnership with Smith. And he’s got Green to support today. Lastly, if you want some more detail on day three, on who did what and when and where and what stood out, and you’d like to see the environs of the MCG, here’s the Final Word roundup from me and Adam Collins. Next up, what is going on with Australia’s batting? From the first Test to here, it has been way off-colour throughout, and it goes well beyond just some trouble around one opener’s spot. I wrote this for you, just for you, by way of examination. What do you need to be up to date? Let’s start with the nuts and bolts of the match report from yesterday’s play. Get in touch. You know the drill. Email and Twitter addresses are in the sidebar, send me an impressionistic verbal decoration at any time through the day. Preamble The time has come: it is Day Four. El Día Quatro, como se dice en español. On the third day will come a frost, but on the fourth day it will be cool but quite pleasant. Sunny and a high of 22. We have seen many great fourth days in Test cricket. This could be one of them. The increasingly embattled home Australian team has a lead of 2 runs with four wickets in hand, with a giant kid batsman in his second match due to resume with the first of his team’s bowlers. The depleted Indian bowling has done a fine job thus far. So we have three possible scenarios. Australia get bowled out expeditiously and India knock off a small chase to complete a stirring comeback in the series Australia summon batting resistance to build a winning lead and complete a stirring comeback in the match Australia summon batting resistance to build a big lead and somehow India chase it anyway in a doubly stirring finale So much stirring that we should be making risotto. I guess what I’m saying is, we can’t lose, watching on. Today should be memorable whichever direction it goes. Where that is, and how we’ll get there, is the point of watching. Or reading, in your case. Let’s shall? Take my hand, I’m a stranger in paradise.