Pink-ball Test: Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar put India on top

India dictated terms to mighty Australia who did everything they could to survive the difficult overs under lights and finish the third day of the rainmarred Pinkball Test at 143 for fourAt stumps Australia trailed the visitors by 234 runs after veteran seamer Jhulan Goswami 227 bowled beautifully and struck twice to leave them at 63 for two at one stage India declared their first innings at 377 for eightMithali Rajs side was lucky as the umpire gave Australian captain Meg Lanning 38 out wrongly raising his finger despite an inside edge and bringing to an end her ominous stay in the middle On that occasion the lucky bowler was Pooja Vastrakar 231 There was a fair bit of dew though and that obviously did not help the India bowlers who kept things tight for a major part of the Australian inningsAfter Tahlia McGrath 28 hit Vastrakars wide and short delivery straight to Smriti Mandhana at point to leave the hosts at 119 for four Goswami was brought back with two slips a gully and a silly midoff but Ellyse Perry 27 batting and Ashleigh Gardner 13 batting survived The dismissal of Lanning raised questions about the absence of DRS which was supposed to be part of the game but the organisers could not go ahead with their plansEarlier Goswami struck twice to reduce Australia to 69 for two at tea after India declared their first innings India got the timing of declaration right considering that batting is most difficult in the second session of a daynight Test with pink ball owing to factors related to lightAustralia recovered nicely after losing Beth Mooney early as the duo of Alyssa Healy 29 and skipper Lanning not only steadied the ship but also played some exquisite shots However shortly before the break Goswami delivered for the visitors with her magnificent bowlingAfter softening Healy with a few short stuffs Goswami bowled a length ball got it to move just enough for the batter to nick it to the waiting hands of wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia This was after the 38yearold fast bowler cleaned up Monneys stumps with one that came back at the lefthanded opener even as the batter looked to flick it on the leg sideFor India Deepti Sharma made a fine 66 finishing as the teams second best scorer a day after opener Smriti Mandhanas magnificent maiden hundred in the format Earlier in the day India dug in deep instead of going for quick runs to reach 359 for seven at dinnerResuming at their overnight score of 276 for five after rain and lightning had brought a premature end to the second days play at the Carrara Oval the Indians scored 83 runs for the loss of Taniya Bhatia and Pooja Vastrakars wickets in the long first sessionTaniya made 22 off 75 balls while Vastrakar made 13 At the dinner break Deepti Sharma was batting on 58 Taniyas dismissal brought to an end a 45run stand for the sixth wicket with Sharma that came at a much slower pace than Thursday as the two teams seemed like they would be contend with a draw rather than forcing a result after a significant part of the match was wiped out by inclement weatherThe duo of Taniya and Sharma consumed more than 28 overs to get those 45 runs It was Stella Campbell who dismissed Taniya caught behind by Alyssa Healy off a backofalength delivery on off stump that moved away for her first Test wicketWhile they did not lose many wickets what did not help Indias cause was that the batters could not capitalise on the loose balls on a pitch that looked pretty flat Deepti as usual was very slow and never played the attacking game which could have resulted in an earlier declaration Meanwhile Sharma who started the day on 12 got to her second Test fifty with a sweep behind square reaching the landmark in 148 balls with the help of five boundariesAlso Read Pinkball Test Rain plays spoilsport after Smriti Mandhana hits maiden tonEllyse Perry gave the team another breakthrough when she had Pooja Vastrakar brilliantly caught by Beth Mooney at gully as the batter looked to drive through covers This was Perrys 300th international wicket even as Sharma went past her previous best Test score of 54 Perry is the only woman cricketer with 5000 international runs and 300 wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever