Cheteshwar Pujara led India’s fightback on day three of the second Test against Australia at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Monday.

After conceding a lead of 87 in the first innings, India’s opening pair of KL Rahul and Abhinav Mukund added 39 runs for the first wicket before the latter was bowled by Josh Hazlewood.

Rahul’s good form continued but he was dismissed just after reaching his half-century with Steve Smith taking a brilliant one-handed catch at slip.

Virat Kohli’s woes in this series continued as he was adjudged leg-before-wicket for 15. Kohli was unhappy with the decision as it was inconclusive if the ball hit bat or pad first, but the third umpire went with the on-field call which was out.

The experiment to promote Ravindra Jadeja to five failed, with the left-handed batsman dismissed for 2. At this point, India had a lead of just 33 runs having already lost four wickets.

That was when Ajinkya Rahane joined Pujara in the middle and the duo brought India back into the game with an unbeaten 93-run partnership.

Pujara will resume batting on 79 on Tuesday, while Rahane is 10 runs short of a well-deserved fifty.

Hazlewood was the bowler who caused India the most problems, the New South Wales pacer taking three wickets, including the scalp of Kohli.

Earlier in the day, Australia were bowled out for 276 with Ravindra Jadeja picking up six wickets.

BRIEF SCORES

India 189 all out [Rahul 90, Lyon 8-50] and 213-4 [Pujara 79*, Hazlewood 3-57] lead Australia 276 [Marsh 66, Jadeja 6-61] by 126 runs.