(Cricket news) India started day 1 at 77/1, exactly 100 runs behind Australia. Ravichandran Ashwin played a nice little cameo after coming in at number 3 but was trapped in front by debutant Todd Murphy on 23. Cheteshwar Pujara came into bat and started unlike himself by showing intent from ball 1. However his stay didn’t last long as he hit Murphy’s outside leg stump ball straight to short fine leg. Virat Kohli started really well and Rohit Sharma continued to impress as India were 151/3 at lunch. 

Virat Kohli got out on the first ball after lunch as he tried to play one down the leg side off Murphy but could only manage a knick to Alex Carrey. Debutant Suryakumar Yadav played a nice sweep to get off the mark in Test cricket but got out trying to play a cover drive off Nathan Lyon. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma played a magnificent knock on a difficult surface as he got 120 runs in 212 balls. It was a perfectly controlled innings by the Mumbai batter who made it look like he was batting on a completely different pitch.

Pat Cummins took the new ball straight away and produced the goods by getting rid off his counterpart Rohit Sharma. KS Bharat also couldn’t stay for long on debut as he was caught plum on the pads by Murphy. Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja then steadied the ship by adding runs. The two left handers frustrated the Aussie bowlers. Jadeja finished the day unbeaten on 66 to add to his impressive bowling performance.

Axar Patel got his 2nd Test fifty as he was unbeaten on 52 off 102 balls. The pair are likely to come out to bat tomorrow with more intent to score quick runs as India’s lead is already up to 144 as they are 321/7. Australia’s decision not to play Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson is starting to hurt them even though Murfy picked up a fifer. Having a bowler who turns the ball away from the right hander and into the left hander could’ve made a massive difference in the game.

Todd Murphy was excellent on debut as he outshined Nathan Lyon by picking up 5 crucial wickets. Skipper Pat Cummins got hammered on day 1 but came back to bowl a really good spell. Scott Bolland was really good as he kept things really tight from his end to build the pressure. Nathan Lyon’s tactics were a little questionable and he didn’t look as dangerous as he normally does even though he did get the crucial wicket of Suryakumar. Australia’s fielding wasn’t up to the mark on day 2. Steve Smith had a forgetful day in the slips as he dropped 3 catches which should’ve been taken. Australia bowled well in patches but India proved too good in these conditions.

Also read: “Virat Kohli is my idol, he has transformed cricket” – Pondicherry cricketer Sagar Udeshi