Finance
India defeated Australia by six wickets in the second Test in three days to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, riding on left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s best bowling figures in an innings in Test cricket (7/42) and Ravichandran Ashwin’s spin masterclass.
In a frenetic session, left-arm spinner Jadeja took seven wickets (7/42) and off-spinner Ashwin took three wickets (3/59) to send Australia crashing to 113 all out in their second innings, 30 minutes before lunch.
Ashwin started the collapse with 3/59 before Jadeja ran through the Australian batting order and finished with 7/42 as Australia were bowled out for 113 in their second innings, giving India a target of 115, which they completed in 28.4 overs.
With two matches remaining, India has also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
After lunch, India resumed from 14/1 with an attacking intent. Cheteshwar Pujara danced down the pitch, whipping Matthew Kuhnemann through mid-wicket for four runs. In the next over, Rohit Sharma came out to loft over wide midwicket for six off Nathan Lyon, followed by four more off him.
Then, against Kuhnemann, Rohit danced down the pitch, slamming a six over the bowler’s head. He was run out in a terrible mix-up, but he sacrificed himself to keep Pujara at the crease. Pujara and Virat Kohli were confident in their footwork, defense, and boundaries.
While Pujara danced down the pitch, lofting Lyon over mid-on, Kohli got close to the ball and chipped a drive past the off-spinner. He followed that with a gentle tickle through the fine leg and a flick between two fielders in the square leg area.
Todd Murphy beat Kohli through the air and on the outside edge, and Alex Carey stumped him from behind for 20. Pujara and Shreyas Iyer kept getting boundaries at a rapid pace — the former was flawless in punching off Murphy, while the latter was brilliant in cutting off Lyon and dancing down the pitch against Murphy to get four and six, respectively.
Iyer danced down the pitch again for an expansive slog against Lyon, but holed out to deep mid-wicket. KS Bharat was stunning in driving through the extra cover twice against Lyon and Kuhnemann.
He would then drive through cover off Kuhnemann for a boundary before bringing the crowd to their feet with a slog-sweep over deep mid-wicket off part-timer Travis Head. Pujara, who was playing in his 100th Test, completed the chase by dancing down the pitch and flicking over mid-wicket to give India another series victory.
Brief scores: Australia 263 and 113 in 31.3 overs (Travis Head 43, Marnus Labuschagne 35; Ravindra Jadeja 7/42, Ravichandran Ashwin 3/59) lost to India 262 in 83.3 overs and 118/4 in 28.4 overs (Rohit Sharma 31, Cheteshwar Pujara 31 not out; Nathan Lyon 2/49, Todd Murphy 1/22) by six wickets.
Source:OCN
