New Delhi: Virender Sehwag is generally known for winning matches with his bat. On Friday, the local favourite donned a different role at the Kotla when he captured three crucial wickets to thwart Australia’s fightback on the third day of the third Test match.

Faced with the huge Indian total of 613 for seven declared, the Australians looked all set to give a befitting reply when Sehwag struck.

The part time off-spinner, who by his own admission, never bowled 22 overs in a match, picked up the crucial wickets of Matthew Hayden (83), Ricky Ponting (87) and Mike Hussey (53) to leave Australia at 338 for four at the end of play on Friday.

The Australians are still 275 runs behind with six wickets in hand and face the uphill task of batting on a wearing track at the Kotla.

Earlier, the Australian batsmen showed great discipline and looked good enough to give the Test match an altogether different twist in the next two days.

Leading the counter charge for the visitors were two gritty batsmen — Ponting and Hussey — after openers Hayden and Simon Katich laid the foundation for a big total.

To add to India’s worries, skipper Anil Kumble, who has 55 wickets from six Test matches at the Kotla, left the ground in the 53rd over after sustaining an injury on the little finger of his left hand.

Fielding at short mid-wicket, the 38-year-old captain leaped in the air trying to take a catch off a strong on-drive by Hayden. Kumble failed to hold on to the ball and suffered a deep cut on his finger.

Kumble remained out of action for the rest of the day, leaving Mahendra Singh Dhoni to lead the side.

Sehwag, however, made three vital dents in the Aussie innings while legspinner Amit Mishra shone in patches. A few of Mishra’s deliveries spun viciously but the Australians managed to stay afloat. Sehwag and Mishra, who often bowl in tandem for their office team ONGC, put the visitors on the defensive with timely strikes.

Katich, who scored a well-struck 66, finally ran out of luck when Mishra lured him out of his crease with a flighted delivery.

The ball deceived him completely to hit the middle stump. It might as well have been an easy stumping for Dhoni if the ball had missed the stumps.

The rest of the Indian bowling looked pretty ordinary. Zaheer Khan started the day on a high note when he rattled Hayden with a couple of bouncers in the very first over of the day. The Aussie left-hander was struck on the helmet and then on his left shoulder but that was all Zaheer could do.

From the visitors’ point of view, the day belonged to Ponting and Hayden. The Australian opener had promised to score a hundred a day before the start of the Test.

He looked good enough to get his 31st century in his 97th Test match before Sehwag trapped him in front of the wicket, a decision that was not appreciated by the opener.

Hayden’s innings was uncharacteristically cautious and did not contain the usual flamboyance except for once when he stepped out to lift Mishra for a superb six.

Ponting looked exceptionally determined. There were moments when he looked clueless but he did not allow that to dampen his spirit.

He did not dominate as is his wont but he ensured that the Australian innings did not collapse.

Sehwag castled the Australian captain to bring India back into the game and the visitors were once again forced to play in a defensive mode as the pitch increasingly started assisting the slow bowlers.