- Updates from the third day of the Test match series
- Start time at Adelaide Oval is 2:30pm ACDT, 3pm AEDT
- Any thoughts? Email or tweet @GeoffLemonSport
It’s a gorgeous day in Adelaide, if you’re wondering. Low 20s, sunshine, will be mild all day and cool tonight. Batting will still be tricky given the surface but it’s probably the best time for it.
Let’s talk for a moment about R Ashwin. Visiting spinners don’t have an easy time in Australia. Off-spinners don’t have an easy time in Australia. Visiting off-spinners are at the centre of that bad-time vortex. Many have visited, few have prospered, and barely any have left with their reputations enhanced. It’s a country in which spinners are so often called upon to do a holding job with nothing more on offer, and their bowling averages and strike rates blow out accordingly. There is a reason that Nathan Lyon is so highly rated even with an average in the low 30s.
Yet Ashwin was the decisive player yesterday. He took 4 for 55, and he started that with the wicket of Steve Smith. The fast bowlers were excellent but weren’t backed up in the field, and couldn’t further than the first two Australian wickets for a long time. Then Ashwin outfoxed Smith and the middle order fell in a rush. This is what changed the game in India’s favour. Ashwin will bowl last in this match, and a series in which he is ready to be a substantial force can only become more engrossing for it.
