Ind vs Aus Blog: Smith Scores 50; Australia Four Down For 151

Steve Smith notches his 21st Test fifty and in the very next ball Peter Handscomb gets trapped LBW by Umesh Yadav!

Handscomb goes for 19.

Smith, who has batted brilliantly so far in his innings, has been losing partners in regular intervals. He will have to try and form a partnership with Glenn Maxwell, if he wants Australia to post a big first innings total.

Maxwell is playing his first Test in two and a half years. This is a perfect situation for him to seal a place in the Test side.

Australia: 140/4 after 43 overs.

Virat Kohli Hurts His Shoulder

This could be bad news for India! Peter Handcomb knocks the ball onto the leg side and Virat Kohli ran behind the ball and dived to keep the ball inside the boundary line.

But after putting in the dive, he immediately caught his shoulder indicating some pain. While diving, it looked like the shoulder was under a lot of pressure when he rolled on the ground.

He is walking off the field with the physio for some treatment.

Ajinkya Rahane will get a taste of Test captaincy for the first time in his career.

Australia: 132/3 after 40 overs

Australia Take Lunch at 109/3

After all the off field drama about the Smith-DRS controversy, the two teams finally got down to business in the third Test at Ranchi.

David Warner and Matt Renshaw got Australia off to a decent start with a 50-run partnership before Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up a wicket each and reduced Australia to 89/3.

Steve Smith (34*), who is looking terrific in the middle, is nearing another Test fifty.

With Smith and Peter Handscomb at the crease, Australia take lunch at 109/3.

India Get Marsh With DRS

Ashwin bowls. Pujara dives to his left for a brilliant catch but the umpire nods, no.

India are choosing their DRS appeals carefully in Ranchi but this one is worth a try. The third umpire takes his time, “definite spike, conclusive spike that the ball touched the inside edge of the bat”.

Decision reversed. India have their third wicket. Shaun Marsh walks on 2.

Australia: 89/3

Renshaw Out on 44

Umesh Yadav has struck for India, just when the opener was looking set for a big score. The delivery takes a big edge off Renshaw’s bat and Virat Kohli at first slips safely latches on to this one.

Renshaw 44 off 69. Australia: 80/2

Jadeja Gets Warner

No Ashwin this time. David Warner sends Ravindra Jadeja’s delivery straight back to the bowler. Australia lose their first wicket.

End of 10 overs in Ranchi. Aus: 50/1

Australia Post 10 in 3 Overs

David Warner and Matt Renshaw start the innings for the visiting team and Virat Kohli has elected to start with Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.

6th over and Ravichandran Ashwin is in. David Warner at the crease. There’s a little bit of history here. Ashwin’s got Warner out nine times. Will we have a 10th today?

Australia Win Toss, Elect to Bat First

India make one change, Murali Vijay is back in the XI. Abhinav Mukund will have to watch from the sidelines.

Australia lost two players due to injury after the Bangalore Test and have two new faces in the line-up. Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell are in.

Teams:

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

Australia: David Warner, Mark Renshaw, Steve Smith (C), Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade, Steve O'Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Jose Hazlewood.

Australian skipper Steve Smith rejected Virat Kohli's insinuation that he repeatedly cheated while taking DRS calls, saying the claims by his Indian counterpart are "complete rubbish".

Speaking to the media on the eve of the Ranchi Test, Smith said "From my point of view I think they're completely wrong. I obviously came out after the game and said I made a mistake and it was an error on my behalf, it was a brain fade".

This, after Virat Kohli spent the better part of his preview press conference stressing on the need to ‘move ahead’ from the DRS controversy.

Virat Kohli refused to attach any importance to the track in Ranchi but Steve Smith said he cannot keep his mind off it, as the rival captains shared their views on the all-important 22-yards in Ranchi.

Kohli felt that the external conditions would determine how the pitch would behave.

"A lot of things like weather go behind how the pitch would behave. In hot and humid conditions, we get reverse swing. It's not just the wicket but external conditions play a role," Kohli said on the eve of the third Test.

Expecting slow and low bounce, Smith said they would look to hit the stumps and stick to the basics.

"I think you have to be hitting the stumps majority of the times. You have to keep things as simple as you can, try and build pressure and perhaps take wickets in different ways. We've got plans in these kinds of wickets, where there isn't much bounce," he said.

Big day in Jharkhand today with MS Dhoni’s home ground hosting its first Test match. India and Australia all poised to restart the battle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy, with the visitors needing just one more win from the two remaining matches to retan the trophy.

A special day for Australia as well, with the team playing their 800th Test match.

Click to read our statistician Arun Gopalakrishnan’s numbers-based preview of the game.

Interestingly, Australia have won each of their 100-milestone matches, expect the 700th fixture that they lost to India.

Will there be an encore in Jharkhand?