India may have been in a better situation had Ravindra Jadeja not overstepped for the eighth time in this series and let Marnus Labuschagne off on nought and Australia’s total 14/1 in reply to India’s 109.

But that doesn’t hide the Indians’ below-par showing with the bat on Day I of this third Test in Indore. Agreed, it was testing conditions out there, but scoring just a 109 wasn’t really justifiable. For batting coach Vikram Rathour, it was “just an off day” with the bat, though India’s specialist batters faltered again after not being able to deliver in the first innings of the Kotla Test.

“It’s a challenging wicket for sure with more turn than what we expected. Maybe because of the moisture, the ball turned sharply in the morning. We could have made more runs for sure, but I don’t think anyone played poor or rash cricket. We just had an off day as a batting unit,” Rathour said after the day’s play.

The batting coach felt the wicket had eased out as the day progressed. “It felt like the wicket eased out. It felt like it had become slower later in the day. It wasn’t turning as sharply as it was in the morning,” he said.

For the Australians, it turned out to be the first time in this series that they kept India under the pump right through the day. Credit certainly goes to left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann for his maiden five-for in Test cricket with able support from off-spinners Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy.

Thereafter, Usman Khawaja showed the application required on the Indore pitch to help Australia to a first-innings lead. For Kuhnemann, who’s a “massive fan” of Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja, a stint at a spin clinic in Chennai a few months ago has also helped him progress.

“I’ve watched how they have bowled in the last few years. The way Jadeja uses his crease and the biggest thing I picked up in the Delhi Test is that he brings his length back a little bit when the ball gets a little older,” Kuhnemann said.

“Besides, I and Todd were on the MRF tour in Chennai probably six months ago and that left me in good stead to go well in these games.” Khawaja’s patient 60, too, played an important role later in the day to keep Australia ahead.

“I played to my plans, tried to score when there was an opportunity and kept out the good balls. “It felt tough the whole time and I don’t expect the pitch to get better,” Khawaja told the broadcasters.

Written with PTI input