Australia on top in fourth Test
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It was a tale of two captains at the SCG on Friday, when Australia raced to a 348-run lead at stumps on day four of the fourth Test.
Steve Smith, wanting quick runs on a slow pitch that had started to turn, calmly peeled off 71 from 70 balls to spark what had been a tepid contest.
In doing so, Smith pushed his side to a total of 6-251 off 40 overs and lifted his own series tally to 769 runs.
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Don Bradman, Mark Taylor and Neil Harvey are the only Australians to have enjoyed a more productive Test series with the bat.
This was not about personal milestones though.
Smith struck a sweetly-timed six off Ravichandran Ashwin, belittling the offspinner who had been a handful from the moment he was handed the new ball and dismissed David Warner.
The 25-year-old passed 50 after 44 balls when he boldly opted to reverse sweep Ashwin, who also removed Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh and Joe Burns.
Smith was denied a fifth century in the series by Mohammed Shami, but Burns and Brad Haddin teed off in style – their 86-run partnership coming at 9.92 runs an over.
“We’ll see how we go in the morning,” Smith said, when asked about a likely overnight declaration.
Smith opted to play it safe in Melbourne, where Australia grabbed the Border-Gavaskar trophy with a draw.
It would have been tempting to do the same when Australia were 2-46 in the dead rubber, but Smith had only one result in mind.
In contrast, when rain ended play one over early Virat Kohli was looking at an SCG record run-chase and a third defeat in the four-Test series.
Kohli was out for 147 in the morning session, extending a run of form almost as formidable as Smith’s.
India’s tail then showed immense character to amass a total of 475, reducing Australia’s first-innings lead to 97 runs.
But Kohli proceeded to lose his cool on a handful of occasions.
The first was a verbal send-off delivered to Warner in the second over, with umpire Kumar Dharmasena speaking to the India skipper shortly after the wicket.
Kohli couldn’t hide his dismay in Ashwin’s next over, when Watson should have been run out for eight but wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha failed to collect Kohli’s low return.
Kohli was similarly emotive when Ashwin had a confident lbw appeal turned down in the final session, turning away in disbelief then seeking an explanation from Dharmasena.
In isolation they were minor incidents, but it was hard to miss the sense of desperation as Smith took the game away from his counterpart.
Kohli was later mocked with a standing ovation from some of the SCG members for unsuccessfully using his foot to stop a ball racing to the rope, having failed to reel in a diving catch.
The 26-year-old smiled, showing the sort of temperament that was lacking three years ago when he was fined at the same venue for showing the middle finger to the crowd.
He will need more than that on Saturday, with 288 being the record for a successful run-chase in an SCG Test.
– AAP