Ruthless Australia Smash India For Series Victory

Ruthless Australia Smash India For Series Victory

Ben Hilfenhaus celebrates one of his three wickets in one over during Australia's thumping win over India in Perth

©REUTERS / Action Images

Australia 369 (Warner 180, Yadav 5-93) beat
India 161 & 171 (Kohli 75) by an innings & 37 runs
Third Test, Perth
Scorecard | Day One | Day Two

Australia romped to an innings-and-37-run victory over India on day three of the third Test in Perth to move into an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

They produced a ruthless performance on the final day to take the remaining six Indian wickets for just 89 runs, Ben Hilfenhaus doing the bulk of the damage with four for 54, as India were bowled out for 171 in their second innings.

Once the 84-run partnership between Rahul Dravid (47) and Virat Kohli (75) for the fifth wicket was broken, so too was India's resistance and the remaining batsmen all fell for single-figure scores.

Peter Siddle (three for 43), Mitchell Starc (two for 31) and Ryan Harris (one for 34) also took wickets as Australia kept alive the possibility of a 4-0 series clean sweep.

Dravid resisted for 118 balls before he was bowled by Harris while Kohli's 75 included nine boundaries and came from 136 deliveries before he was caught by Brad Haddin off Siddle.

Hlfenhaus took three wickets in five balls to dismiss Ranganath Vinay Kumar (6), Zaheer Khan (0) and Ishant Sharma (0) and Kohli was dismissed soon after to complete the win.

India were bowled out for 161 on the opening day - Hilfenhaus again taking four wickets - before Australia were bowled out for 369 as David Warner blasted 180 in 159 balls and Ed Cowan made 74.

Umesh Yadav's haul of five for 93 was the only highlight for India, whose over rate during the match was slow enough for the whole team to be fined and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to be handed a one-match ban.

He will miss the fourth Test, which begins in Adelaide on 24th January.

© Cricket World 2012