India VS Australia: Lokesh Rahul's maiden Test ton takes India to 234/2 at tea

SYDNEY: Young opener Lokesh Rahul struck his maiden ton to help India reach 234 for two at tea on the third day of their fourth and final cricket Test against Australia here today.

At the break, Rahul was batting on 106 (256 balls, 12x4, 1x6) with skipper Virat Kohli (67 batting, 121 balls, 11x4) giving him company as the two batsmen put on 137 unbeaten runs for the third wicket.

India still trail by 338 runs after Australia had declared their innings closed at 572 for 7 in their first innings.

The 22-year-old Rahul, playing in only his second Test match, was dropped by Australian captain Steven Smith when on 46 in the morning session at the SCG.

Post-lunch, Rahul and Kohli looked to bat for long with the ball not doing much and the pitch still an easy one to bat on. And they were quite successful in doing as the runs started flowing after the dry morning session.

India had only scored 51 runs in two hours' play before lunch, but they made amends as 45 runs came in the first hour and then another 67 runs in the next hour until tea as normalcy was restored.

Much of this could be attributed to Kohli's batting, as he raced along to yet another half-century in this series, following his three hundreds already. He got there in the 80th over of the innings, off 108 balls.

Kohli was lucky to be still at the crease though with Steven Smith (0/12) dropping a second catch in the day, this time at second slip off Mitchell Starc (1/50) in the 83rd over, just after the second new ball had been taken.

Kohli was batting on 59 then and happily went to the break given this life. Perhaps his joy was emboldened with the fact that the young opener Rahul overcame his horrific debut Test in Melbourne to achieve a milestone. Rahul got there in 85th over, the last before tea, off 253 balls.