The Australian team is well on top after after an eventful Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test against India in Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday (December 27). India is at 164/5 and is gasping for breath in their pursuit of a mammoth total of 474 set up by the hosts.
Australia arrived in MCG on Thursday at 311/6. A clinical effort from the Indian bowlers could have turned the tide towards the visitors in the first session itself. However, the pair of Steve Smith and Pat Cummins helped Australia race ahead of India with their impressive strokeplay. Smith recorded his second century in the series and 34th overall to steer Australia’s scorecard.
The pair added 100 runs before Cummins (49) was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja. The tailenders did their job well to play as a second fiddle to Smith. However, Smith was dismissed in an unusual manner by Akash Deep, as Australia was bundled out for 474.
Much was expected from Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who made his way back to his preferred opening position. However, the 37-year-old got dismissed for 3 after playing a nothing shot against his counterpart Cummins and was caught at the silly mid-on region.
Then, KL Rahul and Jaiswal looked at ease with their defensive approach and were steering the side with odd boundaries. However, at the stroke of tea, Cummins bowled a peach of a delivery to breach the defense of Rahul (24), resulting in them ending the second session on 51/2.
India’s high and lows in final session of Day 2
India’s posterboy Virat Kohli arrived at the crease with widespread booing due to his shoulder barge with Sam Konstas on Wednesday. Kohli left the ball anything outside the off-stump and soon found his groove with a perfectly timed cover drive. His pull and straight drives were also gave a sign of him returning to pristine form.
On the other end, Jaiswal was looking sharp with his positive approach and was accumulating odd boundaries. He launched a mighty six over the long-on fence to display his comfort at the crease. The next over saw him scoring a boundary off Scott Boland and trying to score runs at a quick pace.
However, disaster struck in the following ball, which saw the southpaw trying to take a quick single by driving the ball towards the mid-on region. But, Kohli was caught ball-watching, as Jaiswal was stranded near the non-striker’s end. He was run-out for 82 off 118 balls, with 11 fours and a six.
Soon, Kohli made a mistake yet again by poking at Boland’s ball around the off-stump channel, and his edge was caught by Alex Carey. He showed good promise with his 86-ball 36-run knock, but failed to convert his starts into a big knock.
Boland used his short-ball tactic to dismiss night watchman Akash Deep (0) to further pile misery on the Indian team. At the stumps, India is at 164/5, with Rishabh Pant (6*) and Ravindra Jadeja (4*) at the crease.
