The pink ball test is set for another 4th day finish judging by today’s proceedings which was clearly the bowlers’ day.
Australia rips off the tail quickly
Yet again India lost wicket in the 1st over of the day’s play in the form of Ravichandran Ashwin whose bad form in test cricket continues- 28 innings without a fifty. Saha disappointed by playing a loose shot off a wide delivery from Starc in the very next over. The wicketkeeper needs to put more price on his wicket as his job will be more to play with the tailenders.
It just took 20 minutes for Australia to bundle out the visiting team who were able to add just 11 runs to their overnight total. The bowling seemed to improve as compared to the 2018/19 series as they attacked more at the stumps and making the batsman play.
Perfect reply by Indian pace battery
The trio of pacers responded well by starting with 4 maidens on the trot. Mohammad Shami was better with the ball by keeping most of the deliveries on the stumps. By the end of the first session, Jasprit Bumrah had removed both the openers – Joe Burns and Matthew Wade- who were getting troubled occassionally by the pacers.
Ashwin breaks through Australian batting
The session after dinner break saw a very cautious approach from Marnus Labushagne and Steven Smith for around 40 minutes which included just one boundary from the former. Smith did not add to his first session score as he was dismissed playing for a turn off a brilliant delivery from Ashwin who was also bowling his very first over of the series. This ball had straightened unlike the previous delivery, thus deceiving the dangerous batsman.
Ashwin looked perfect on this pitch as he was also able to extract bounce the way Lyon normally does in this part of the world. Travis Head was a victim of this as he tried to play the flick but gave a simple catch to the offspinner. Cameron Green fell to a blinder of a catch from captain Kohli diving to his right.
The Dark Horse
Umesh Yadav who looked rather bleak in the second session was brilliant in the final session making his mark by bowling a double-wicket maiden overout of nowhere. He picked up the big wicket of Labuschagne by striking him on the pads. Cummins was shown the pavilion when he tried fending away a short ball but it popped up to Rahane for a simple catch.
Prithvi Shaw finally made a mark in the test match contributing in a run out which saw the back of dangerous Mitchell Starc. The pressure of scoring runs quickly made the batsman look for the second run, leading to the dismissal. Nathan Lyon was looking good to support his captain when he pulled one off Shami towards deep mid wicket boundary. However in the very next over he lobbed a simple catch to Kohli handing Ashwin his 4th wicket.
The captain’s resilience
Tim Paine was the lone warrior as far as the Australian first innings was concerned. He seemed to be batting on a different pitch alltogether scoring runs at will. His innings included ten boundaries, scoring atleast one against all the Indian bowlers. He anchored the lower order batting adding 80 runs for the last 3 wickets, denting the lead down to 53 runs which at once looked above 100.
Talking points of the day:
Jasprit Bumrah provided the breakthrough in the very second over after he changed ends during his first spell.
Labuschagne’s 47 included drop catches each by Bumrah and Shaw. He was also given out caught behind off the bowling of Shami but reviewed it immediately as there was no edge. There were total 4 catch drops made by the Indian fielders, something for the management to ponder
The Australian batsmen looked like underestimating Ashwin judging by the shots played by Head and Green to which they got out. The offspinner got his best figures in Australia today.
Stage is set for another 4th day finish ?
India now lead by 62 runs with 9 wickets in hand in the second innings as Prithvi Shaw was clean bowled ending a forgettable test match for him with the bat. With the pitch becoming more suitable for the bowlers now, I think any target above 250 will be very improbable to chase. If Australia can bowl India out for a score of around 150 then we will have a very engrossing game on our hands.
Day 2 Summary
India: 244 , 9/0 [Mayank Aggarwal 5*, Jasprit Bumrah 0*] , leads by 62 runs
Pick of the batsman: Tim Paine- 73
Pick of the bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin- 4/55
Cow Corner 