Australia has been utterly embarrassed on day three of the Delhi Test against India, suffering a cataclysmic collapse on Sunday morning as Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja worked their magic at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
After Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne guided the visitors to 1-61 at stumps on day two, it was hoped the Australian top order could take advantage of the fast start and set an imposing target for India in the fourth innings.
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But instead, Australia lost 9-47 in a chaotic morning session on day three, ultimately bowled out for 113 to put India within touching distance of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The batting was reckless and the shot selection was poor; the Australians repeatedly relied on sweeping India’s spinners, a strategy that backfired dramatically.
Head was the first to fall, dismissed by Ashwin for 43 in the opening over of the day — the veteran off-spinner got a delivery to turn sharply and kiss the outside edge, with Indian wicketkeeper holding onto a low chance.
Australian vice-captain Steve Smith was the next to depart, trapped on the front pad by Ashwin for 9 after attempting an unnecessary sweep shot.
What followed was a nightmare passage of play before the drinks break, where Australia lost 4-0 in 11 deliveries. Labuschagne came back to a full delivery from Jadeja, which crept under his bat and crashed into middle stump, gone for 35.
At the other end, concussion substitute Matthew Renshaw botched a sweep shot against Ashwin, given out LBW for 2 — the Queenslander wasted a review before trudging back to the sheds.
Peter Handscomb, arguably Australia’s best batter in the first innings, departed the following delivery for a duck after edging Jadeja to first slip, where Virat Kohli held onto a smart catch.
Jadeja was suddenly on a hat-trick after Australian captain Pat Cummins threw his wicket away with a wild slog across the stumps, bowled for a golden duck.
Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon briefly stemmed the flow of wickets, combining for a 15-run partnership for the eighth wicket before the Australian wicketkeeper misjudged a reverse sweep against Jadeja, giving the Indian tweaker his 21st Test five-wicket haul.
Lyon joined him in the sheds a few overs later, edging a full delivery back into the pegs for 8 to become Jadeja’s sixth victim of the innings.
The left-armer wrapped up the innings by bowling debutant Matthew Kuhnemann for a duck, finishing with career-best figures of 7-42. It was the best bowling performance by an Indian against Australia in Tests since 2004.
“These are world-class players, and they’ve got everything to win and everything to lose in this session,” former Test batter Matthew Hayden said in commentary.
“They did it so well last evening in those few overs. Strong scoring rate, good defence, proactive batting. But what we’ve seen here is a disaster for Australia. They’ve gone way over the edge in terms of their aggressive play.”
Speaking on Fox Cricket, former Australian captain Allan Border said he was “disappointed” and “shell-shocked” by the carnage that had unfolded.
“I’m angry about the way they went about it today,” he said.
“It was panicky, frenetic sort of batting … nobody got in there to stem the flow with some good defensive cricket. They were all just getting out playing sweep shot, reverse sweep to just about every ball.
“You can’t get away with that on that sort of track. You’ve got to have a method.”
India will chase a 115-run target for victory to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
