Adelaide, Dec 8: Australia are 19 runs away from winning the Adelaide Test and squaring the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series after skipper Pat Cummins used short balls to good effect and pick 5-57 in his 14 overs to bowl out India for 175 in their second innings on day three’s play on Sunday.

Resuming from 128/5, India could add only 47 runs before their second innings was brought to a swift end in 36.5 overs by Australia, with Nitish Kumar Reddy continuing to be impressive by top-scoring with 42.

Cummins led solidly from the front to his second five-wicket haul against India in Tests, while Scott Boland picked up three scalps and Mitchell Starc took two wickets to put Australia on the verge of making a stunning comeback in the five-match series after suffering a crushing 295-run defeat in Perth.

India’s hopes of going out of trouble met a swift end on day three as Starc got a full ball to just straighten off the seam and take Rishabh Pant’s outside edge to second slip to dismiss him for 28. Cummins’ bouncer plan worked when he found the glove edge of Ravichandran Ashwin’s attempted hook and was easily caught behind by Alex Carey.

Even as Reddy looked solid in defence, the bouncer ploy worked again for Cummins when he prised out the shoulder edge of a tangled Harshit Rana and was caught easily by gully, just an over after Starc hit him on the helmet with a pacy lifter.

Reddy pushed India into a slender lead when he hammered Scott Boland over long-on for a one-bounce four, and hooked a bumper from Cummins over backward square leg for six. But Cummins had the last laugh as Reddy arched back to ramp over slips, but was caught by third man. Boland ended India’s innings by having Mohammed Siraj mistime to Head at mid-wicket, who back-pedaled and tumbled on his back to complete the catch.

Brief Scores: India 180 and 175 in 36.5 overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 42, Rishabh Pant 28; Pat Cummins 5-57, Scott Boland 3-51) trail Australia 337 by 18 runs

--IANS

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