Mohali, October 19:

Debutant leg-spinner Amit Mishra took a five-wicket haul to put India in command on the third day of the second Test against Australia on Sunday.

Mishra, who took two wickets on Saturday, dismissed top-scorer Shane Watson (78) before mopping up tailenders Cameron White and Peter Siddle to finish with an impressive 5-71. Paceman Ishant Sharma and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh chipped in with two wickets each as the visitors were bowled out for a first innings score of 268, two less than the follow-on mark.

India, however, decided to bat again, reaching 100 without loss at close for an overall lead of 301 runs. Openers Virender Sehwag notched up his 15th Test fifty and was batting on 53 with Gautam Gambhir on 46 when stumps were drawn for the day.

The Australians owed their first innings score to a fine rearguard action from Watson and Brett Lee who put on 73 runs for the eighth wicket to pull their side up from 167-7. Watson’s 156-ball career-best knock included 10 fours and a six while Lee contributed a handy 35.

Mishra’s figures were the best return for an Indian bowler on debut since Narendra Hirwani’s 8-61 against West Indies in 1988. The visitors lost three key wickets in the morning session in the face of a smart spin-pace combination from the home side.

Key middle-order batsman Michael Hussey (54), Brad Haddin (nine) and Cameron White (five) were all cooling their heels in the pavilion after resuming the day on 102-4. Hussey reached his 10th Test fifty with a pulled two off Sharma before edging the bowler in the same over to Mahendra Dhoni.

Chittagong Test CHITTAGONG: Shakib Al Hasan excelled with both bat and ball to put Bangladesh in control on the third day of the first Test against New Zealand on Sunday.

The left-hander scored 71 for his maiden half-century to guide the home team to 184-8 in their second innings at close when as a left-arm spinner he returned Bangladesh’s best innings figures with 7-36. The home team led overall by 258 runs with Mashrafe Mortaza (five) and Abdur Razzak (nought) unbeaten at close.

Hasan added 48 for the seventh wicket with Naeem Islam (19) before miscuing a drive

off Daniel Vettori, who was the pick of the tourists’ bowlers with 4-39. But by then Hasan’s knock had put Bangladesh in the driving seat.

It was Hasan’s destructive spin in the morning which wrapped up New Zealand’s first innings for 171 in reply to Bangladesh’s 245. Hasan’s effort with the ball, which surpassed the previous best innings figures for Bangladesh in all their 54 Tests, gave the home side an invaluable 74-run lead in the first innings. He erased best innings figures by a Bangladeshi bowler set by another left-armer Enamul Haque with 7-95 against Zimbabwe at Dhaka three years ago.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA - 1st Innings: 469

AUSTRALIA - 1st Innings (Overnight: 102-4)

M Hussey c Dhoni b Sharma 54

S Watson lbw b Mishra 78

B Haddin b Harbhajan 9

C White b Mishra 5

B Lee c Dravid b Harbhajan 35

M Johnson not out 9

P Siddle st Dhoni b Mishra 0

Extras: 17 (lb13, nb4)

Total: 268

FoW: 1-0, 2-17, 3-62, 4-102, 5-130, 6-146, 7-167, 8-240, 9-262

India bowling: Zaheer 25-7-56-1,

Sharma 21-4-68-2, Harbhajan 29-9-60-2,

Mishra 26.4-8-71-5

INDIA - 2nd Innings

G Gambhir not out 46

V Sehwag not out 53

Extras: 1 (nb1)

Total: 100/0

Australia bowling: Lee 6-0-22-0,

Siddle 8-1-30-0, Johnson 7-0-43-0,

White 2-0-5-0