Fighting half-centuries from captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane have seen India take the honours on Day 2 of their second Test against Australia at Perth.
Kohli, battling a fiery Australian pace attack, led the way with an unbeaten 82 as the visitors went into stumps at 172/3 after bowling the hosts out for 326 earlier on the second morning.
Having resumed play at 277/6, Australia appeared set for a 350+ total with skipper Tim Paine and Pat Cummins taking them up to 310 – but India’s pacers dislodged the last four wickets for just 16 runs in the space of 22 balls.
A horror start from the Indian openers – Murali Vijay fell for a duck, KL Rahul for 2 – handed the initiative back to the Aussies.
But Kohli, first with Cheteshwar Pujara and then alongside Rahane – with whom he shared an unbroken 90-run stand – shored things up for India, who trail Australia by 154 runs going into Day 3.
Bowlers Wipe Out Aussie Tail
Getting rid of tail-enders has been more troubling than one would imagine for India over the course of what has otherwise been an impressive year with the ball away from home. The English tail wagged more than once during a frustrating tour earlier this year, and even victory at Adelaide didn’t come without conceding a fair share of lower-order runs. Australia’s last four wickets added 108 and 135 runs respectively in two innings in the first Test – over 46 percent of the team’s total runs.
Recent history looked to be repeating itself as Paine and Cummins batted out the opening hour on Day 2, taking the hosts beyond the 300-mark. It took India until the last ball of the 15th over of the day to break through, when Umesh Yadav cleaned up Cummins’ defense.
It was a swift procession from there – Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Paine, before Ishant Sharma wiped out Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood off consecutive deliveries to end the Australian innings at 326.
Sharma finished with impressive figures of 4/41 from 20.3 overs – his best figures in 24 Tests against Australia, and first four-for in 20 innings Down Under.
Openers Remain Without Runs
The onus was on KL Rahul and Murali Vijay to come good, and not let the efforts of the fast bowlers in the opening session slip away. There were three overs for India to negate before Lunch – and that proved enough for the damage to be done.
Vijay was castled by Starc for a 12-ball duck, his third in 13 innings in South Africa, England and Australia this year. Rahul fared only slightly better, seeing his stumps rocked by Hazlewood for 2 shortly after the interval.
India’s average opening stand through the difficult overseas grind in 2018 is a mediocre 22 – 19 innings in 10 Tests so far have yielded only 418 runs, with just four partnerships of over 50.
Captain and Deputy to the Fore
At 8/2 in 5.1 overs, India were staring at an abysmal collapse. That they ended the day with honours even – at the very least – in the Test is credit to the toil of their core triad that followed the openers to the crease.
Australia were guilty of providing Kohli the full length he thrives upon, especially towards the start of an innings. After leaning in for a sublime on-drive off the second ball he faced, from Hazlewood, the Indian captain stroked three more delicious boundaries off the same bowler four overs later.
Then came the most probing period of the day, as Cummins tested both Kohli and Pujara with immaculate line and length. With support from the other end, the first-change pacer drove closer to find a third breakthrough but India hung on patiently.
After being 38/2 in 10 overs, Kohli and Pujara saw out a tough passage of play through to Tea, with the next 20 overs bringing only 23 runs.
Adelaide hero Pujara fell in the sixth over after Tea, glancing a leg-side ball from Starc into Paine’s hands. Rahane came out with intent without foregoing caution; the Indian vice-captain hit a controlled hook and two strong upper cuts, one of them good enough to go over the ropes, to take 23 runs off his first 22 balls.
The period post the final drinks break of the day belonged squarely to India. Both Kohli and Rahane brought up their fifties, as India took 55 runs off 21 overs in the final hour plus extended time at the end of the day.
Brief Scores: India 172/3 (Kohli 82*, Rahane 51*, Starc 2/42) trail Australia 326 (I Sharma 4/41) by 154 runs.
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