The Stumps Show Day 3: India On Top

In the course of a manic one-and-a-half hours of play post tea, Virat Kohli got his century, India extended its lead to 534, declared its innings, and claimed 3 Australian second innings wickets to have the home team reeling at 12/3 by close of play, staring at certain defeat at some point on the fourth day.

Kohli's century came after a drought of 16 months during which he grew increasingly edgy and visibly nervous.

This ton in Perth was not his best by a long way -- but it was vitally important for both him and the team, coming as it did at the start of a key series.

To his credit, Kohli batted ugly when he had to, made the adjustments needed to protect his outside edge, and towards the end, when he and Nitish Kumar Reddy went barn-busters, looked more like the imperious Kohli of his pomp.

Australia are in a pickle, and it has only itself to blame.

Over the 134 overs the hosts bowled, a meagre 6 per cent of deliveries was hitting the stumps, according to the broadcasters' graphic.

The folly of that was shown up by Bumrah, who in course of just 14 balls -- almost all of them at much fuller length, targeted the stumps relentlessly and ended up with two wickets, both trapped plumb in front.

The game will likely be over on day four -- and India, looking for a 4-0 win to make the World Test Championship final without depending on the outcomes of other teams, will have got off to a great start, one that did not seem likely when it got bowled out for 150 in the first innings.

Here's Prem Panicker's unique take on all the action from the third day of the 2024-2025 Border Gavaskar series.

• India In Australia, 2024-2025

Rediff.com's Production Team: Hitesh Harisinghani, Rajesh Karkera, Manisha Kotian, Satish Bodas.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani