The Great Escape -  India v Australia   Ranchi

So with series 1-1 the 2 most competitive cricket teams locked horns for 3rd test in the Eastern region town of Ranchi- The abode of the great M S Dhoni.....and what a match it was...

Deciding to bat on a pitch which turned out to be the best in the series..Australia after struggling at 140/4 laboured to 451 thanks to another epic by Steve Smith...a near chanceless & neat 178 notout under pressure and shepherding an unsure Glen Maxwell in the process...Maxwell..a doubtful starter to this test and an explosive batsman played solidly controlling his aggressive instincts for a neat 102..However late wickets prevented Aussies from reaching a more intimidating score of 550plus.

India started well with the 2 openers before Pat Cummins flown in for an injured Mitch Starc extracted good pace & bounce from a docile pitch to dismiss KL Rahul for 67..which paved the way for Chateswar Pujara to start his epic innings..Vijay hit 82 but his dismissal opened up the middle order & some fine bowling by Cummins & Hazlewood reduced India to 326/6 and under big pressure to save the test now. But enter Wriddhiman Saha...short on runs in the series till that point. Saha & Pujara put up an absolutely stunning long partnership to take India well past 451.Saha completed a fine 100 and Pujara played excess of 500 balls for an epic 202...what an innings it was by the unsung hero of the Indian batting...a man of the match performance....So from a potential danger of losing the match the Pujara-Saha stand of 199 took India to a winning position end of 4th day...India 601/9decl. Australia with 8 ovrs of high pressure situation lost 2 wkts (one of Warner) end of 4th day with Jadeja looking extremely dangerous using the rough patches outside lefthanders offstump.

Enter 5th day and with 30 minutes to go for lunch Australia were 63/4 (Smith bowled Jadeja 21)..and now staring at a certain defeat.  However Shaun Marsh was playing stubbornly and Peter Handscomb proceeded to play his most important innings of the series using his feet to score & played rock solid defence...no wickets fell in post lunch session and till about 20-30 minutes from the end of the day when Marsh finally was out for 53 & Maxwell soon after  but with Australia already taken a lead ended at 204/6 as Handcomb played an outstanding innings of 72 notout and he & Marsh were rock solid & took Australia out of jail from a certain defeat at the hands of Indian Spinners & kept the series 1-1 with 1 test to play...thus setting to rest all pre-series forecasts of 4-0,3-0 series win for India.

Thus this was a test match which ebbed and flowed...with India staring at a possible defeat in 1st half  and Australia escaping from a certain defeat at the end on a last day difficult pitch which should give them lots of confidence ahead of the last test....Cant wait for Dharmasala Test  !!!

From above: Smith on the way to 178no,   Jadeja 9 wkts in the match  ,Pujara 202no, Saha 117
Marsh- Handscomb 100 plus runs partnership to save Australia