Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli are Australian spinners

Mild conditions in Ahmedabad followed a poor ICC rating for the parched and untrustworthy surface unveiled for Indore, where the Australians bounced from a 2-0 deficit and clinched a lovely nine wicket win.

India’s need for a win to secure their place in the Test World Cup final appears to be waning as New Zealand reassert themselves in a simultaneous struggle: Sri Lanka must win this series 2-0 to concede India in the event of a draw or a turn off defeat here.

Kuhnemann’s early win over Rohit was soon followed by a desperately close moment for new striker Pujara: just a splinter in front of the pad saved India’s No. 3 from lbw. Pujara was also beaten on the outside edge by his first ball from Lyon. A second wicket felt close to realisation.

Murphy, who wasn’t called until the last half hour of the morning, caused problems for both sides. His off-break to Gill, who bit out of a Starc footprint, went between racquet and pad and just missed the stirrups, was close to the ball of the test match.

Otherwise, Gill played with a keen eye and tremendous timing whenever he was given anything remotely close to his favorite Midwicket region. Smith’s fields gradually got funkier as he tried Green and then Starc back-to-back from the south end.

Lyon’s lengthy stints against were tight and challenging, but it was clear Smith favored him and Kuhnemann over Murphy, a somewhat odd order of preference given the young Victorian’s burgeoning reputation as a problem solver.

Gill went to 96 with a decisive backflip over Lyon’s head, then to three numbers with a paddle swing that narrowly dodged the claws of Lyon, who ran around the boundary. Four balls later, however, Murphy roared for Pujara’s lbw, fooling the No. 3 with flight and just enough spin.

Kohli survived a few nervous minutes before the break. Australia regrouped for another attack after tea, although an unsynchronized clock in the dressing room left the majority of the side showing up a minute late for the restart.

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Gill’s innings ended when Lyon hit him on the backfoot with a sharp off-break for another lbw.

Ravindra Jadeja looked extremely uncomfortable at times, but survived long enough to be at the crease for Kohli to win his first Test 50 match in more than a year.

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