Nine’s Wide World of Sports
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Pant pulls away at the last second and the crowd boos, but he apologises to Boland.
The next ball, Pant gets struck on the body and collapses to the turf and the crowd, of course, begins to come alive after his previous transgression.
Clearly rattled by the last minute, Pant goes for a wild shot and skies it to Lyon at deep third man and India's danger man is heading back to the sheds.
"Poor old Rishabh Pant on the ground watching his dismissal happen before his very eyes," Marl Howard said on Fox Cricket.
Pant is known for his attacking style, but he clearly missed the mark this time and Boland has claimed his third wicket for the innings.
"With two out on the leg-side, it's a risky shot," Alyssa Healy said.
Nathan Lyon takes a catch to dismiss Rishabh Pant. Fox Cricket
Lyon into the attack now for the Aussies as they chase a wicket.
Jadeja looks to whip it through the leg-side, but yorks himself in a frantic moment.
The next ball there's a massive appeal for lbw but the umpire turns it down and with only one review left, Australia opt not to send it upstairs.
Replays show the ball would have clipped leg-stump but would have stayed umpire's call should the Aussies have reviewed the on-field call.
"That is a surging over – he will be encouraged by that," Mark Howard said on Fox.
Lovely shot from Pant, who dispatches Boland to the boundary with a pull shot.
"If you notice, he often attacks the first ball of an over," Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket.
The powerful left-hander is off to a strong start.
A little mix-up between Pant and Jadeja almost ends with another ugly run out, but the pair manage to scramble and avoid disaster.
"That was more of a run than the one yesterday," Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket.
Some mind games going on between Cummins and the batters, with field changes multiple times per over to keep Jadeja and Pant in two minds.
Pant walks down the track and hits Cummins over the top for an early boundary.
The next ball, a short-pitched ball from the Aussie skipper goes through to the keeper and Carey goes up in appeal but the umpire turns it down.
The hosts opt to review the decision, but the ball clearly misses the bat and the noise was either the ball hitting Pant's sleeve or his chain rattling against his helmet grill.
Rishabh Pant survives a review. Fox Cricket
Cummins gets first crack at the batters on day three.
Pant edges the ball straight through the vacant third slip region and it rolls away for a boundary to kick-start the day for India.
"It's a bit of a nothing shot, it's a delivery he could have let go," Mark Waugh said on Fox.
"That's the type of ball you can get out to. That would have been close."
The ball splits the slips fielders. Fox Cricket
The players are taking to the field now at the MCG.
Australia will be brimming with confidence, but there's still plenty of quality batting left in this Indian side with the dangerous Jadeja and Pant at the crease.
Just under 10 minutes until play resumes at the MCG.
The crowd is building for another crucial day in the context of the series, with India trailing by more than 300 runs after an ugly late collapse on day two.
"That atmosphere is electrifying … you can not beat it," Ravi Shastri said on Fox Cricket.
Steve Smith is one of the greatest batters of all-time, but even he's got a sweet tooth.
The right-hander scored his second century in two Test matches yesterday, tearing the Indian bowling attack apart en route to 140 at the MCG.
But when he got back to the team hotel, his wife had a special treat waiting for him.
"Yeah I went the Caramilk ice cream last night – Dani had one waiting for me when I got home," Smith said on Fox Cricket.
Steve Smith celebrated his latest century with a Caramilk ice cream. Fox Cricket
The performance in the third Test in Brisbane was a drought-breaking performance for Smith, who was starting to have questions raised over his international future.
But the 35-year-old claims he was always confident of bouncing back.
"You've just got to have faith," Smith said.
"I was hitting the ball really nicely and people were saying I'm too old or asking if my eyes were going. I thought maybe I just go out of my crease and make my impact point closer to the bowler. I think my eyes are still there, which is nice.
"I think for me it's just keeping the faith. I've said it a few times but I think there's a difference between being out of form and out of runs … I was just out of runs.
"I've played long enough in this game to know things can turn around pretty quickly."
The final 30 minutes of play on Friday was as dramatic as it gets in Test cricket.
A horror run-out leading to another two quick wickets in front of a roaring crowd set things up nicely for the Aussies heading into day three.
English great Michael Vaughan heaped praise on skipper Pat Cummins, who pulled all the right strings in order to get Virat Kohli and Akash Deep back in the sheds.
"I thought Cummins' captaincy in the last hour was magnificent," he said on Fox Cricket.
"He had all the bases covered. Australia's tactics that last hour were magnificent."
Virat Kohli trudges off the ground after being dismissed. Getty
On the other end, India have been disappointing and the decision to send Deep out to the crease instead of Rishabh Pant had one legend scratching his head.
"India's tactics have been questionable all the way through," Mark Waugh said.
"To send a nightwatchman in 25 minutes before the end of play … it's a very negative message to the opposition. I don't know what is going on tactically.
"They are a little bit off the boil at the moment."
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Australia vs India day three LIVE: Rishabh Pant survives early scare after 'nothing shot': Steve Smith's sweet celebration after century – Nine
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