Deepti Sharma praised Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday for being a ‘magical bowler’ on the third day of the ongoing Test against Australia, after the skipper provided two crucial breakthroughs to provide some relief to her team.

Australia dominated India for the majority of the third day of the one-off Test at the Wankhede Stadium, reaching 233/5 in their second innings and increasing their lead to 46.

Tahlia McGrath’s second fifty (73) in the game, Ellyse Perry’s 45, and skipper Alyssa Healy’s 32 helped the visitors erase India’s 187-run first innings lead. As the Indian bowlers struggled to make an impact, Kaur entered the attack in the final session and struck immediately to dismiss both McGrath and Healy.

“Harry di has a golden arm. She always takes a wicket whenever she comes onto bowl,” Deepti told the media after the conclusion of third day’s play.

“She is always ready (to bowl). Everyone was bowling but we needed a magical bowler who could get a wicket since the partnership had lasted for a long time. We also got some momentum,” Deepti added.

In an abrupt display of aggression, Kaur angrily threw the ball back at her Australian counterpart before dismissing Healy, even filing an appeal against the batter for obstructing the pitch. After bouncing off Healy’s bat, the ball ran to the boundary. While her appeal was turned down, Kaur dismissed Healy on the next ball itself.

“All those things happen in cricket in heat of the moment. Our focus was only on taking wickets and bowling dot balls. I do no have much to say on that,” Deepti said about the incident.

Deepti, who led India’s first-innings total of 406 with 78 runs, said it would be critical to strike early on the final day. “The aim will be to take their remaining five wickets as soon as we can in the first half itself — lesser the target the better it would be for us. The ball was keeping low on the third day, compared to the first day. It was not that challenging, let’s see, the wicket should help the bowlers more tomorrow (Sunday),” she added.