(Cricket news) India started Day 2 on 21/0 trailing by 242 runs. Nathan Lyon had a very ordinary game in Nagpur but he turned things around and how. He got rid of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer in the space of 9 overs. The spell was devastating for India but it put Australia in the driver’s seat. India were 66/4 but then Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja put together a partnership of 59 runs.
Jadeja was eventually dismissed by Todd Murphy on 26 off 74. Kohli looked really confident with the bat despite the fall of wickets on the other end. He hit some good shots and was very controlled on the defensive side of. Matthew Kuhnemann dismissed Kohli for his maiden Test wicket on debut. The former Indian skipper was extremely unlucky as he was given LBW when the ball looked to have hit the bat and pad at the same time. Kohli played well for his 44 off 88 which is a good sign.
Lyon came back and dismissed K.S Bharat to complete his 5-fer which was also his 100th wicket against India. He came back with a bang and showed his class to lead the Australian bowling attack. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel were India’s last two recognised batters and their partnership started when India were 124 runs behind. The pair batted incredibly and frustrated the Aussie bowlers as they added 114 runs.
The pair were dismissed in quick succession with the 2nd new ball, Ashwin by Cummins and Axar by Murphy. Axar Patel got his 2nd consecutive fifty as he got 74 off 115 balls. He picked the right balls to attack and had a really steady defense. Ashwin provided great support with his 71 ball 37 to get India close to Australia’s total. India were bundled over for 262 which looked impossible at one stage. India once again needed their lower middle order to bail them out. The middle order hasn’t been performing for quite a while which is a very big concern.
Travis Head and Usman Khawaja came out to bat with a lead of 1 run. David Warner was injured and Matthew Renshaw came in as a concussion substitute. It was a surprise to see Head come out to open as he has never done that in international cricket while Renshaw was Australia’s opener in the last tour of India.
Khawaja who batted wonderfully in the 1st innings didn’t get going as he was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja thanks to a brilliant catch by Shreyas Iyer at leg slip. Marnus Labuschagne came out to bat with a lot of intent as he hit 3 fours in his unbeaten 16 off 19. Head played his usual aggressive game as he finished the day not out on 39 off 40 balls hitting 5 boundaries and a maximum. Australia finished day 2 on 61/1 with a lead of 62 runs.
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