The Indian pair of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal played impactful knocks to help the Indian team end Day 2 with a lead of 218 runs against Australia in Perth.
The first session of the day witnessed Mitchell Starc (26) scoring the most runs for Australia, as they were bundled out for 104. Captain Jasprit Bumrah was the star bowler for India with a five-wicket haul.
In the second session, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal completely played down Australian pacers’ plan to secure early breakthroughs. After carefully passing the tough time, the duo steered the team comfortably as India ended the second session on 84/0.
Early on in the third session, the duo played with caution and the Australian bowlers were also pin-point accurate with their lengths. As a result, the first hour certainly saw some less action, with the hosts putting brakes on the runs.
In the last delivery of 41st over, Mitchell Starc induced an edge off Jaiswal, while he looked to drive the fuller ball. However, the ball just fell short of Usman Khawaja.
The subsequent ball witnessed Rahul and Jaiswal engaging in a mix-up. Jaiswal defended Nathan Lyon’s delivery and didn’t take an interest to eke out a single. However, the right-hander was off his block and was well past the halfway mark on the pitch. After Jaiswal’s shout, Rahul made a return to the non-striker’s end, but he certainly survived Steve Smith’s direct hit.
Last hour of Day 2 witness dominance of Indian batters
Thigs took a drastic turn when Pat Cummins introduced himself into the attack in the 49th over. The over saw Cummins giving away two boundaries off byes and a wide. Then, the pressure was released from batters as Travis Head came into bowl, with fielders stationed near the fences. The over went for eight runs, with KL Rahul playing a delightful cover drive.
In the 52nd over, Jaiswal charged against Lyon to launch him for six towards the long-on region. With this maximum, the southpaw has now hit the most sixes (34) ever in a calendar year in Tests. He got past Brendon McCullum, who hit 33 sixes in 2014.
The rest of the play saw Australian bowlers failing to dismiss either of the openers. The Indian team ended the day on 172/0, and now lead by 218 runs. Jaiswal (90*) and Rahul (62*) were terrific to thrive under pressure and drive the Indian team to a dominating total at the end of Day 2.
The first session of Day 3 will be the decisive phase of the game, as it may signal India’s dominance or Australia crawling back in the game.
