(ESPNCRICINFO) – Second week into the third month, Shubman Gill scored his fifth international century of the year to lead India’s response to Australia’s 480. For long periods, Australia did well to keep a lid on the scoring rate, but Gill was not to be denied for too long: his 128 off 235 was a contrast to the 152 the others managed off 361 balls between them.

India ended the third day 191 behind with seven wickets in hand. Virat Kohli scored his first fifty since the Cape Town Test at the start of last year, and ended the day with the promise of a hundred.

There was a little more turn and misbehaviour available from the pitch, but it was not nearly enough to make survival difficult. So Australia did the next best thing possible: bowl to one side of the pitch and wait for mistakes. The batters discovered that while there might not have been great threat to their wicket, scoring wasn’t the easiest either.

This Test has been the opposite of the other three in many ways. One of them was a return to the old Indian trend of batting being easier against the new ball. India’s early assault on Mitchell Starc meant the first 15 overs of three of the four new balls used in this match had gone for 193 runs and no wicket. Perplexingly, Starc bowled predominantly around the wicket, failing to create rough for his two off-spinners.

Once Australia went to spin at both ends, the runs dried up, and a loose stroke arrived. Rohit Sharma punched an innocuous-looking delivery from Matt Kuhnemann straight to short extra cover. The six overs leading up to the wicket had brought just 10 runs.

The start to the partnership between Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara wasn’t quite swift, but once Australia went back to pace, the tap opened again. The second ball of Starc’s new spell was cover-driven to bring up Gill’s fifty. In Starc’s next, Gill played the short-arm punch through midwicket for four more. Leading up to lunch, Pujara, too, got a move on.

Although a couple of deliveries had disturbed the surface in the first session, there wasn’t anything dramatic. Australia came back with more focused plans. It often involved seven-two leg-side fields with everything turning in. After the two initial boundaries off Cameron Green, India spent 16 overs in the middle session without a boundary.