Every day of this series, the Indians have consoled themselves with the thought that things can only get better. But the next day has usually brought a new rock-bottom. Day Three of the Adelaide Test wasn’t a good day for the Indians. But it was a better day than most. And therefore, the hope.

“We are thinking the other way,” said Virat Kohli, when asked if India had any chance of saving the game. “(In 2003-04) Australia scored 400 on the first day and we chased down in the fourth innings. The ball is turning square now, and with Ashwin bowling well you never know.”

Early wickets

Ashwin bowled well, yes, and took two wickets, but the good bowling, and the wickets, were features of his early bowling to the left-handers in the first innings as well. Then, he had removed David Warner and Shaun Marsh. Now, he sent back Warner and Ed Cowan.

Virender Sehwag seems to think his IPL teammate Warner isn’t particularly proficient against spin. He brought on Ashwin early once again, in the second over of the innings. His fourth and fifth balls, to Cowan, beat the bat and took the leading edge respectively.

In his fifth over, Ashwin beat Warner with turn, bounce and a cloud of dust off the second ball, and dismissed him with the last, a full ball on the pads. Warner tried to work it onto the leg side, but his front foot had opened out, Twenty20 style, and his bat turned in his hands as the ball went off its outside half, back to the bowler, who fell across the pitch to grab it near the non-striker’s bootlaces.

Marsh came in, wearing beneath his helmet grill the haunted look of someone with 17 runs from his five previous innings in the series. He lasted four balls, and didn’t add to his series tally, consumed by a big inswinger from Zaheer that his front pad couldn’t help but get in the way of. Twitter went abuzz with activity. “The worst batsman in the series has not been an Indian,” read a tweet.

In the next over, Cowan went deep into his crease and tried to work Ashwin across the line. Mistake. The ball went with the arm and caught him plumb in front. Forty for three. A strange kind of hope coursed through Indian veins.

They will know, of course, that this hope is farfetched. Ponting and Clarke remain, as do five other Australian batsmen. Even if they are wiped away magically, without the addition of a single extra run, they will need to score the small matter of 383 runs. On a quickly deteriorating wicket. Against Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon. Apart from Virat Kohli and Wriddhiman Saha, none of the batsmen seemed up to the task in the first innings.

The Siddle riddle

The day began with Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar at the crease. Peter Siddle got them both, and it didn’t take him too long. In his second over of the day, he shaped one away from Tendulkar, full and inviting. Tendulkar accepted the invitation, and edged to second slip, falling to the cover drive for the fourth time in the series. In his next over, Siddle bent his back and got one to climb at Gambhir’s upraised front elbow. The left-hander only managed a weak fend, and the ball looped into the hands of a diving Mike Hussey at gully.

Many didn’t want VVS Laxman to play this match. He played one gorgeous cover drive on the up off Siddle, caressing the ball in a manner that no other batsman in the universe can match, but lasted too briefly — 43 balls — to convince those who plumped for his omission in favour of youth. He had a couple of iffy moments against Nathan Lyon, who dropped sharply spun off breaks into a worrying spot outside off stump, but fell to a fairly innocuous delivery, caught behind aiming a halfhearted square cut at a shortish ball.