IND W vs AUS W: Kaur leads India Women's fightback, Australia take slender lead

India women captains Harmanpreet Kaur rescued the team by bagging two wickets and conceding 23 runs Team India continued a challenging outing against Australian women at stumps on day three here on SaturdayHarmanpreet Kaur came into action with the ball in the third session when her team tried all tricks but failed to get a breakthrough as a resolute Australian side overhauled the hosts 187run lead in the first innings with consummate easeSkipper Kaur dismissed Tahila McGrath for 73 runs who smashed the second consecutive fifty in Test cricket and later went on to dismiss Aussies captain Alyssa Healy for a score of 32Also Read Now Deaflympics gold medallist Virender Singh to return Padma Shri over WFI presidents electionBefore dismissing her counterpart Kaur fired a sharp return throw at Healy who took evasive action and the ball raced to the ropes as it deflected off the Australian skippers batKaur appealed against Healy for obstructing the field which was rejected by onfield umpires Anil Chaudhary and N Janani On the next ball Kaur had Healy out legbefore while attempting to sweepAnnabel Sutherland 12 and Ashleigh Gardner 7 were at the crease at stumps with Australia reaching 2335 in the second inningsIt was Australia on the third day with their seamers unleashing a shortball attack on the Indian tail which folded in a little over half an hour into the days play with 30 runs added for the loss of the last three wicketsSutherland 241 was Australias primary weapon as she claimed two wickets in the form of overnight batter Pooja Vastrakar 47 and Renuka Singh 8 while Kim Garth accounted for Deepti Sharma 78 but not before the Indians reset a couple of recordsAlso ReadIND vs SA Combination Confusion KLs keeping choice between Prasidh and KumarIndias firstinnings total of 406 is now their highest ever in Test cricket against Australia A 122run stand for the eighth wicket between Deepti and Vastrakar is Indias highest in the format and secondbest for any side in the worldDeepti was Indias topscorer with 78 from 171 balls with nine fours while Vastrakar missed her maiden fifty by a narrow margin of three runsWith 187 in deficit Australia openers Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield began well but both were guilty of throwing away their startsRicha Ghosh deserved full credit for running out Mooney for 33 37 balls 7 fours after the batter carelessly ventured out of her crease after defending a delivery from Sneh Rana 254Ghosh positioned at a silly point hurled the ball back at the wickets while Mooney seemed to have lacked awareness of getting back into the creaseLitchfield 18 was cleaned up by Rana when the batter attempted a reverse sweep but missed connecting completely Australia star Ellyse Perry looked set for a big score as she batted in a commanding manner in the second session for her 91ball 45 with five fours putting on 84 for the third wicket with Tahlia McGrathBut India wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia was sharp enough to follow a delivery from Rana which kept drifting down the leg collecting a faint edge off Perrys batMcGrath had some luck on the way to a fine fifty as Rana standing at wide first slip had an outside edge off Rajeshwari Gayakwad passing under her handsOn 52 McGrath had luck favouring her again when she was adjudged legbefore on Kaurs first delivery which she got overturned Rajeshwari Gayakwad toiled for 27 wicketless overs but she did not press on for a DRS review when Sutherland was pinned in front of the wicketsGayakwad also had Healy dropped twice by Jemimah Rodrigues on consecutive deliveries at a silly point despite the fielder standing slightly deeperWith PTI Inputs