Pujara's classy hundred puts India in command in third Test
Melbourne, Dec 27 : The redoubtable Cheteshwar Pujara produced yet another classy hundred and combined with captain Virat Kohli (82) to put India in command on the second day of the third Test against Australia here Thursday.
The scoring rate was a shade better than the overnight effort, which fetched them 215/2, and India declared at 443/7 before Australia responded with 8/0 in six overs.
Pujara was the dominant figure with his second century of the series, a dogged but faultless 106 off 319 balls, which ensured that India consolidated the good start. It was though his slowest hundred in Test cricket yet.
Kohli, who contributed a significant 82 off 204 balls, made a surprising declaration in the 70th over with Rohit Sharma at 63 not out off 114 balls. Kohli's knock helped him to a personal milestone as he surpassed Rahul Dravid (1137) for most number of runs in a calendar year in overseas Tests.
Rohit's knock, included five fours, while Pat Cummins was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking 3/72 in a back-breaking effort of 34 overs.
At stumps, openers Aaron Finch and Marcus Harris were unbeaten on 3 and 5 respectively.
It was a solid batting effort by the Indians, something that was emphasised endlessly by Kohli in his pre-match statements. What stood out for the visitors was the patience they showed in the first two sessions, which ultimately left them in an assured position at close.
Post tea, India were also helped by a comedy of fielding errors by Australia. The home side missed three easy chances, all off Nathan Lyon (1/110), in what proved to be a frustrating 48 overs from him.
First, in the 147th over, substitute fielder Peter Siddle put down Rohit (on 15 then) at backward square leg as the batsman played a wild sweep. A ball later, Ajinkya Rahane (34) was lucky when on 32 as Travis Head was caught napping at short leg when the ball sailed past him.
Rahane got unlucky shortly afterwards though as one delivery from Lyon kept too low and he was plumb lbw.
Rishabh Pant (39) played an uncharacteristic defensive innings, and the only aerial stroke he played was in the 159th over off Lyon when Cummins spilled the chance at long on. He was on 15 then.
Australia took the third new ball in the 167th over and it worked as Pant looped up a catch to Usman Khawaja behind the wickets off Mitchell Starc (2/87).
The accelerating burst before the declaration never came as skipper Kohli called the batsmen in when Ravindra Jadeja (4) was caught behind off Josh Hazlewood (1/86).
Rahane and Rohit took India to 346/4 at tea after Australia removed both Pujara and Kohli in the space of four overs.
Post lunch, Kohli-Pujara took their third-wicket partnership to 170 runs before the game turned.
The Indian skipper took medication for some back issue and then stepped through the gears as he brought out two pulls against Mitchell Starc (1/68) in the 123rd over. He pressed on the accelerator a tad too much, and cut straight to third man, much to the bowler's delight.
Four overs later, in the 126th over, Pujara got a delivery from Cummins that kept a tad low and knocked back his stumps as India were suddenly reduced to 299-4.
Rahane then took charge of proceedings and played a breezy knock, not allowing the Australian attack to get on top.
In comparison, Rohit was more sedate and took his time at the crease, even as Tim Paine targeted him with some banter. There wasn't any major change in the pace of scoring though, with 36 runs coming in the first hour after lunch, and 33 runs in the second.
In the morning session, Pujara scored his 17th hundred as India reached 277/2 at lunch.
Starting from overnight 215/2, India looked ready for another hard day's grind, with Kohli reaching his 20th Test half-century, off 110 balls, in the very first over of the day.
The two batsmen scored quickly in the first hour and kept the scorecard ticking over, before Australia went back to their tactic of cutting runs.
Cummins bowled another wonderful spell, extracting most out of the pitch than any other Australian bowler, and he beat the edges of both batsmen on a couple occasions but without any luck.
Lyon bowled with a predominantly leg-side field and into the batsmen. His duel with Pujara was quite remarkable, as the batsman kept turning him to the onside again and again, whilst stepping out on occasion to play him through the offside.
Australia kept a tight leash on the scoring rate as 62 runs came in this morning session. Even so, they could not deny Pujara who reached his second hundred of this series off 280 balls just prior to lunch.
In doing so, he went past his previous best tally of runs scored in an overseas Test series. He had scored 309 runs in Sri Lanka in 2017, and currently has 325 runs in the current series.
On day one, debutant Mayank Agarwal scored his maiden Test half-century after India won the toss and opted to bat.
The four-match series is pegged at 1-1, after India won the first Test in Adelaide by 31 runs and Australia took the second Test in Perth by 146 runs.
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Loco pilots' union alleges manipulation of working hours to hide overutilisation
New Delhi (PTI): The loco pilots' union has alleged that various railway zones are manipulating the working hours of train drivers by falsely entering duty breaks during their 12 to 16-hour-long trips in the online Crew Management System (CMS) to hide their overutilisation.
As per railway norms, a loco pilot cannot be asked to work more than 9 hours at a stretch and no more than 11 hours in total from sign-on to sign-off. Since 2021, the Safety Department of the Railway Board has instructed all zonal railways that 80 per cent of trips should be completed within the 9-hour limit.
The Railway Ministry had earlier stated that it has not only initiated aggressive recruitment of loco pilots but also created several amenities for them, including urinal facilities in over 900 locomotives, air-conditioning systems in over 7,000 locomotives, and upgraded all 558 running rooms across the rail network.
The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) stated that safety regulations prohibit overburdening loco pilots with excessive duty hours. They alleged that rail administrations are regularly violating these rules to compensate for a 15–20 per cent staff shortage.
"Though this illegal practice is happening in many divisions and zones, we have started by raising the issue with the General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR). We have submitted a memorandum compiling several issues that affect loco pilots' working conditions, including the false trip break," said Ashok Kumar Raut, General Secretary of AILRSA.
The ECR has not responded to the allegations.
However, following Raut's representation, one of ECR's divisions, Dhanbad, issued a circular dated July 15, 2025, warning of strict action against the false insertion of duty breaks between sign-on and sign-off in the CMS.
"A direction is being issued to all to not break duty hours between the sign-on and sign-off of the crew while registering it in CMS (Crew Management System). If it is happening in any crew lobby, it must be stopped immediately. If such cases are found, strict disciplinary action will be taken," the circular stated.
Raut explained that lobby officials record the sign-on and sign-off times of loco pilots in the CMS when their shift starts and ends, respectively. However, in cases where a loco pilot works for more than 12 hours, contractual staff at the lobby are allegedly inserting fake duty breaks -- ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours -- on verbal orders from senior officials to conceal overutilisation.
Each railway division submits monthly crew working hours data to the Railway Board in a fixed format. These duty breaks are reportedly used to avoid detection of excessive working hours, which violates operational safety norms.
"This illegal and unsafe practice of inserting duty breaks in the system is being done on the verbal orders of some senior officials, such as the Chief Traction Loco Controller and Chief Crew Controller. Railways has outsourced CMS data entry work to private personnel, and these officials instruct them to insert such breaks," Raut alleged.
He added, "I have gathered data from some divisions on illegal trip breaks by lobby staff. In May and June 2025, in the Dhanbad division alone, there were 2,719 such cases; 1,883 in the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar division; and 785 in the Danapur division."
He also claimed that the Samastipur and Sonpur divisions manipulated working hours in 304 and 83 cases, respectively.
Earlier this year, in April, South Central Railway reviewed CMS data on loco pilots’ working hours and found that, in 545 cases in the Secunderabad division, 42 in Vijayawada, 26 in Guntakal, three each in Guntur and Nanded, and one in the Hyderabad division, goods train loco pilots worked between 13:55 and 14:00 hours but were compelled to feed incorrect times to hide actual duty hours.
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