Finance
Travis Head started his promotion to opening with a bang, remaining unbeaten on 39 as Australia reached 61/1 in 12 overs at stumps on day two of the 2nd Test against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
After Australia took a one-run lead and India was bowled out for 262 in their first innings, Head launched an attack to give the visitors some quick runs. At 16 not out, Marnus Labuschagne keeps him company.
In the absence of a concussed David Warner, Australia chose to send Head as an opener alongside Usman Khawaja with 13 overs remaining in the day. Head made an immediate impact, pulling and driving Mohammed Shami for boundaries and gaining a thick outer edge off Ravichandran Ashwin for his third four in five overs.
Following Khawaja’s heave over deep midwicket, Jadeja struck on the very next ball, sweeping straight to a sharp short leg moving to his left. In the eighth over, Labuschagne took on Jadeja, sweeping twice and punching off the backfoot to take three boundaries. On a thrilling day, Head took the rive against Jadeja and then danced down the pitch to hit Ashwin over long-on for six before stumps were called.
Axar Patel of India top-scored with his second consecutive fifty in the series as the hosts were bowled out for 262 in their first innings. At one point, it appeared that Australia would take a commanding lead, as India were 139/7 after 50.5 overs.
However, Axar smashed 74 off 115 balls and shared an important 114-run partnership off 177 balls with Ravichandran Ashwin, who made 37 off 71 balls, to put India on the verge of taking the lead.
Despite the stand, they were beaten by a single run as Australia finished the Indian first innings in 3.3 overs after taking the second new ball. Nathan Lyon, Australia’s premier off-spinner, starred with 5/60, including four wickets in the morning session.
Lyon and Todd Murphy shared bowling duties in the final session, with Axar and Ashwin providing defense, strike rotation, and some lucky byes. As India approached 200, the crowd regained its voice and cheered loudly for Axar and Ashwin.
When Axar was batting, Steve Smith at slip couldn’t make a low catch, and Matthew Renshaw didn’t get a chance to take Ashwin’s catch at leg slip, giving the batters boundaries. Axar completed his fifty in 94 balls, lofting Matthew Kuhnemann over wide long-on for six, and the crowd was enthralled by his blitzkrieg.
Pat Cummins tried to find some reverse swing, but Axar hit him for four with a sumptuous drive between cover and mid-off, followed by a smashing cut through the off-side for another boundary. Lyon came under attack as well, with Axar cutting through backward point and an outside edge flying off Ashwin’s bat past slip for two fours in the over.
With the second new ball available, Australia took it and had immediate success when Ashwin chipped to a diving square leg off Cummins, falling for 37. Axar then made space against Murphy in order to hit him over extra cover for six.
Axar tried to go over mid-on on the next ball, but Cummins dived to his left and took a one-handed screamer over his head. Kuhnemann ended India’s innings by dismissing Mohammed Shami for two runs.
Earlier in the morning session, Lyon ran through the Indian top order, dismissing KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Shreyas Iyer to leave India at 88/4. For the fifth time, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja combined for a 59-run stand off 129 balls.
While Kohli was patient, showed good footwork, and rotated the strike well, Jadeja was strong in defense, driving off Murphy and clipping off Lyon for goals. Murphy, on the other hand, caught Jadeja in front with an off-break delivery coming in with the arm. Jadeja requested a review, but replays showed the ball striking the middle stump.
When Kohli was rapped in front of the middle-stump, he became Kuhnemann’s first Test wicket. With his bat and pad so close to colliding with the ball, TV umpire Richard Illingworth concluded the ball hit pad first and upheld the on-field call, resulting in Kohli falling six runs short of his fifty.
KS Bharat got things started with a reverse sweep off Lyon. Three balls later, however, the off-spinner had the last laugh when he had Bharat go for the sweep early and lobbed off the glove to slip running backwards, giving Lyon his five-fer. After that, Ashwin and Axar combined caution and aggression to bail India out of trouble, despite Australia taking a one-run lead.
Brief scores: Australia 263 and 61/1 in 12 overs (Travis Head 39; Ravindra Jadeja 1/23) lead India 262 all out in 83.3 overs (Axar Patel 74, Virat Kohli 44; Nathan Lyon 5/67, Todd Murphy 2/53) by 62 run
Source:OCN
