Virat Kohli brought up his 30th Test century and his 81st overall in international cricket before India declared their second innings at 487 for 6, setting a massive target of 534 for Australia. Yashasvi Jaiswal also scored his fourth Test century during the day with a massive 161. India continued to put Australia to the sword in the final session of play on Day 3 in Perth, firstly with the bat as Kohli registered an 89-run partnership with Washington Sundar and a quickfire 77-run partnership in just 8.4 overs with Nitish Kumar Reddy. India then picked up three wickets in the final 27 minutes of the day to leave the hosts tottering at 12 for 3 at Stumps.

Kohli, unlike the first innings, looked calm at the crease and left the ball alone outside the off-stump with ease on Sunday. He played some classic drives during his 143-ball knock and punished any loose deliveries and got to his fifty with a flick to mid-wicket. Sundar and Kohli continued to rotate the strike and managed to negate any tricks the pitch started to play before the former attempted a wild slog-sweep off Nathan Lyon but only saw his stumps rattled. Despite that, Australia were visibly weary having spent the better part of two days on the field under 34 degrees of heat in Western Australia.

This opened the floodgates for the Indians as Nitish came out with intent and whipped one for six over backward square off Mitchell Marsh before he punished him for three more boundaries in Marsh’s next over. This freed up Kohli as well who hit a six straight down the ground off Lyon. The two batters continued to find the boundaries regularly against a demoralised Australia until Kohli swept one to fine-leg for four which brought up his century.

India declared immediately and sent the hosts in to bat for a short stint of 27 minutes and immediately things went into disarray for the hosts. Nathan McSweeney’s miserable Test debut came to an end as he failed to pick a nip-backer by Jasprit Bumrah for nought, while Pat Cummins who promoted himself as night-watcher held his bat out to be caught by Kohli in the slips off Mohammed Siraj. In the last over of the day, Marnus Labuschagne was trapped in front of the stumps after he offered no shot to Bumrah. India now need seven wickets with two days to play to clinch victory.

Earlier during the day, KL Rahul and Jaiswal continued from where they left off as they brought up the first 200-run opening stand for India in Australia. Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his fourth Test century with a ramp over fine-leg for six. Jaiswal learnt his lesson from the first innings admirably well, as he intercepted the ball in the second innings off his backfoot more often than not which allowed him to ride the bounce off the deck. Rahul was, however, caught behind off Starc on 77.

Australia managed to bounce back for a short passage of play as they picked up four wickets in fairly quick succession. First to go was Devdutt Padikkal who held his bat out first ball after Lunch to be caught behind. Jaiswal survived two run-out chances during his innings and then managed to convert his 100 to 150. Jaiswal’s terrific knock came to an end when he found the point fielder after throwing his hands at a loose delivery by Mitchell Marsh. Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel then fell in back-to-back overs for one each. Pant had charged Marsh first ball but missed a big heave. The witty Lyon bowled one wide as he expected Pant to charge forward again, which he did, and allowed Carey to quickly whip the bails off the stumps. Jurel was given LBW off Cummins, and DRS went on to show that the ball was just clipping the stumps.

Brief Scores:
India 150 and 487/6 dec (Yashasvi Jaiswal 161, Virat Kohli 100*, KL Rahul 77; Nathan Lyon 2-96) lead Australia 104 and 12 for 3 (Usman Khawaja 3*, Marnus Labuschagne 3; Jasprit Bumrah 2-1, Mohammed Siraj 1-7) by 521 runs