MATCH REPORT
Follow UsIndia dominated the third day of the day-night Test at Gold Coast as pacers Jhulan Goswami (2-27) and Pooja Vastrakar (2-31) reduced Australia to 143/4 in their first innings on Saturday.
The hosts trail by 234 runs with Ellyse Perry (27 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (13 not out) at the crease. India, who began the day at 276/5 declared their first innings at 377/8 following Deepti Sharma's 66.
Goswami then struck twice to reduce Australia to 69 for two at tea. The 38-year old first removed Beth Mooney with a terrific in-swinger that knocked over the stumps and got Alyssa Healy to edge a good-length to keeper Taniya Bhatia.
The absence of DRS in the match was once again up for discussion after Australian captain Meg Lanning (38) was given out for lbw in Vastrakar's bowling. Replays showed that Lanning had edged the ball before it hit her pads. Tahlia McGrath (28) was the next to fall when she sliced Vastrakar's wide and short delivery straight to Smriti Mandhana at point.
Perry and Gardner then saw out the day as Raj brought back Goswami and Vastrakar for the final spell of the day.
For India, Deepti Sharma made a fine 66, finishing as the team's second best scorer behind Smriti Mandhana who scored a magnificent 127 on Day 2 to put the visitors in a strong position. Indians scored 83 runs for the loss of Bhatia and Vastrakar's wickets in the first session.
At the dinner break, Sharma was batting on 58, as she added 45 runs with Bhatia for the sixth wicket. Stella Campbell then removed Bhatia with a keeper catch to claim her maiden Test wicket.
Sharma soon reached her second Test fifty with a sweep behind square, reaching the landmark in 148 balls with the help of five boundaries. Ellyse Perry gave the team another breakthrough when she had Vastrakar brilliantly caught by Beth Mooney at gully. The wicket was Perry's 300th dismissal in international cricket, who is now the only woman to score 5000 international runs and 300 wickets.