The 3rd Test match of the 4 matches Test series between Australia and India was held on January 7-11 of 2021, Thursday at Sydney Cricket Ground. Ajinkya Rahane captained the Indian team. The series was level on 1-1, and it was the 3rd match of the series. Australian captain won the toss and decided to bat first. David Warner returned to the Australian team and Rohit Sharma in the Indian team for this match.
W Pucovski and David Warner opened the inning for Australia. Debutant Pucovski played a brilliant inning on debut and made 62 runs. David Warner got out early on 5 runs to M Siraj. Marnus Labuschagne batted brilliantly on number 3. M Labuschagne and Steven Smith made 100 runs partnership for 3rd wicket. M Labuschagne made 91 runs and got out to R Jadeja. Steven Smith played a brilliant inning for Australia. He smashed a century in 1st inning. Smith made most 131 runs for Australia. Australia made 338 runs in 1st inning. R Jadeja took most 4 wickets for India. Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill opened the inning for India. They played brilliantly and gave an opening start of 70 runs to the team. Shubhman Gill scored a brilliant fifty and got out to Pat Cummins. C Pujara also batted brilliantly and made 50 runs in 176 balls. This was the slowest fifty by C Pujara in Test cricket. R Pant also made 36 runs for India. The Indian team got all out on 244 runs in 1st inning. Pat Cummins took most 4 wickets for Australia in 1st inning. Australian team took a lead of 94 runs in the match.
Australian team batted brilliantly in 2nd inning. Cameron Green scored most 84 runs for Australians. Steve Smith also made 81 runs. Australian team declared inning on 312 runs in 2nd inning. It was a target of 407 runs for India to win the match. Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill gave a good start to the team and made 71 runs opening partnership. R Sharma scored a brilliant half-century. Australian team needed 8 wickets to win the match on the last day, that is day 5. R Pant counter-attacked on mighty Australians and made brilliant 97 runs in just 118 balls. He played his natural game and smashed 3 huge sixes in his inning. Unfortunately, he failed to score a century for his team. C Pujara also made 77 runs in the 2nd inning. Hanuma Vihari and R Ashwin made an unbeaten partnership of 62 runs for the 6th wicket and drawn the test match. Hanuma Vihari was outstanding on day 5. He played with a broken hamstring and played 161 balls for one of the greatest test escape. R Ashwin also played 128 balls. Both the batsman batted for more than 3 hours to help the team draw the match. It was a mentally win-win for India to draw the match. Indian team played 131 overs in the 2nd inning, and it was lovely to see the determination of players.
Steven Smith was selected as player of the match for his brilliant batting performance. The series is set on level 1-1, and the last match is yet to be played.