India vs Australia: Bowlers help India gain crucial lead on Day 2

On a day that saw 15 wickets falling, India went in to the pavilion as the happier of the two sides on Day 2 of the first Test between India and Australia at the Adelaide Oval. On tough conditions to bat on, no batter could get going with the exception of Australia’s No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne and their skipper Tim Paine.

Earlier, beginning on 233/6, India lost their remaining 4 wickets for just 11 runs, lasting a mere 23 minutes. If Day 1 saw a wicket fall on the second ball, Day 2 saw a wicket on the third ball as Ravichandran Ashwin edged a Pat Cummins delivery to the wicket-keeper. Wriddhiman Saha followed suit and got out off Mitchell Starc‘s delivery before the rest of the tail was cleaned up in quick time.

R Ashwin leads India’s excellent bowling performance

Following the cleaning of the Indian tail, the Aussie batters began cautiously as the first four overs were maidens. Scoring at an alarmingly patient rate, the openers Matthew Wade and Joe Burns lost their wickets to Jasprit Bumrah‘s angling deliveries that trapped them in front. It was then up to Australia’s key batsmen Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne to rescue the innings.

However, R Ashwin had Smith edge one to slips off a straightening delivery before going on to remove Travis Head and Cameron Green as well, the latter undone by a terrific catch from Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Just as the Aussie batters looked to frustrate India soon after, Umesh Yadav struck twice to expose the tail.

The tail for the Aussies hung in unlike for the Indians, along with captain Tim Paine and ensured India didn’t get a huge lead. Paine remained unbeaten on 73 stitching together a handy 52 runs with the final two batters to take the score to 191 meaning the lead was just 53. Ashwin finished with 4 wickets for India and was clearly the pick of the bowlers.

Aussies dismiss Prithvi Shaw before close of day

After getting dismissed, Australia had 25 minutes to bowl at the Indian openers and try to get them out. Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal who had forgettable outings in the first innings were tasked with hanging in and ensure India finished the day on top. There were a lot of nervy moments for the latter with Tim Paine dropping him.

The former however, got beaten all ends up by a Pat Cummins in-swinger to endure another horror show. Jasprit Bumrah was the nigh-watchman for India strangely and the Number 11 batsman survived the day with some solid defensive strokes. India finished the day on 9/1 with a lead of 62 runs. A crucial day awaits India tomorrow as they will look to bat throughout the day and set Australia a steep target.

Scores:

1st innings:

Batsman	Mode of Dismissal	Runs	Balls
Prithvi Shaw	b Starc	0	2
Mayank Agarwal	b Cummins	17	40
Cheteshwar Pujara	c Labuschagne b Lyon	43	160
Virat Kohli	run out (Hazlewood/Lyon)	74	180
Ajinkya Rahane	lbw b Starc	42	92
Hanuma Vihari	lbw b Hazlewood	16	25
Wriddhiman Saha	not out	9	25
Ravichandran Ashwin	not out	15	17
Umesh Yadav	c Wade b Starc	6	13
Jasprit Bumrah	not out	4	7
Mohammad Shami	c Head b Cummins	0	1

Total: 244 all out in 93.1 overs

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wickets
Mitchell Starc	21	53	4
Josh Hazlewood	20	47	1
Pat Cummins	21.1	48	3
Cameron Green	9	15	0
Nathan Lyon	21	68	1
Marnus Labuschagne	1	3	0

2nd innings:

Batsman	Mode of Dismissal	Runs	Balls
Matthew Wade	lbw b Bumrah	8	51
Joe Burns	lbw b Bumrah	8	41
Marnus Labuschagne	lbw b Umesh	47	119
Steve Smith	c Rahane b Ashwin	1	29
Travis Head	c & b Ashwin	7	20
Cameron Green	c Kohli b Ashwin	11	24
Tim Paine	not out	73	99
Pat Cummins	c Rahane b Umesh	0	3
Mitchell Starc	run out (Shaw/Saha)	15	16
Nathan Lyon	c Kohli b Ashwin	10	21
Josh Hazlewood	c Pujara b Umesh	8	10

Total: 191 all out in 72.1 overs

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wickets
Umesh Yadav	16.1	40	3
Jasprit Bumrah	21	52	2
Mohammad Shami	17	41	0
Ravichandran Ashwin	18	55	4

3rd innings:

Batsman	Mode of Dismissal	Runs	Balls
Prithvi Shaw	b Cummins	4	4
Mayank Agarwal	not out	5	21
Jasprit Bumrah	not out	0	11

Total: 9/1 in 6 overs

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wickets
Mitchell Starc	3	3	0
Pat Cummins	3	6	1

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