Aus vs Ind 2nd Test, Day 2: UPDATED

[Vikatakavi02]

Aus vs Ind 2nd Test, Day 1: Harris, Head, Finch score fifties to keep hosts alive

Score after 90 overs, Australia 277-6, Pat Cummins 11(29), Paine 16(34); Bumrah 22-8-41-1.

Perth: Australia and India shared spoils on the first day of the second Test here on Friday with the hosts registering a total of 277-6.

Aaron Finch (50), Marcus Harris (70) and Travis Head (58) scored half-centuries to give the hosts a fighting chance.Finch and Harris put up a 112-run stand for the first wicket before the former was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah.

Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja (5) and Peter Handscomb (7) had short stints at the crease.

Captain Tim Paine (16) and Pat Cummins (11) are currently batting.

SCORECARD

[Vikatakavi02]

Day 2: Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane repel Australia's attack

Perth: Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane led India's riposte to Pat Cummins' tour de force to help the visitors cut their deficit to 154 at stumps on an absorbing second day at the new Perth Stadium. After Australia were dismissed for 326, India lost both M Vijay and KL Rahul to hooping inswingers, but Kohli got cracking with three boundaries off Josh Hazlewood in the 10th over. Enter Cummins and then Nathan Lyon. Their combined genius and relentless accuracy meant Kohli and India had to wait 22 more overs for their next boundary.

This was the passage of play that defined the day. Cummins first attacked Kohli's stumps and then shifted his lines wider to have the India captain fishing outside off. At the other end, Lyon found sharp turn and bounce to remind India what they were missing: a frontline spinner. A biting offbreak, which Kohli left alone, nearly trimmed the bails while a non-turning ball drew a leading edge to point. In the 10 overs Cummins and Lyon bowled in tandem during the post-lunch session, India managed only 12 runs. Kohli, though, weathered the storm and reached his first fifty of the series, with his first boundary off Cummins this series.

He ground out 74 for the third wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara, who also played his part in keeping Australia's attack at bay till tea. His duel with Lyon in particular was intriguing, again. While Pujara often took regular trips down the pitch and even hid his bat behind pad, like he had done in Adelaide, the loose ball did not come from Lyon here.

Cummins then returned after the break to trouble Pujara with the incoming delivery. One of them skidded off the pitch and pinged the back thigh when he was on 23. The on-field decision was not-out but Tim Paine gambled on a review and lost it because the ball was always bouncing over the stumps.

After Lyon and Cummins had built up all the pressure, it was Mitchell Starc who made the incision when he snaffled Pujara down the leg side for 24 off 103 balls. It was Starc who had produced the first breakthrough, too, when he blazed through the weak defences of M Vijay off what turned out to be the last ball before lunch. KL Rahul, the other opener, was bowled by a sharp inswinger as well. It was the 11th time that he had been dismissed bowled or lbw in his last 15 Test innings.

All of that disappeared into the background when Kohli took centerstage, taking Hazlewood for four rousing boundaries in a mere nine deliveries, the pick of them being a checked on-drive. After seeing off two immaculate spells from Cummins, he brought up his half-century with an adventurous upper-cut over the cordon.

Rahane showed greater attacking enterprise and eased the pressure off Kohli in an unbroken 90-run stand. He hooked Starc over backward square leg and then ramped him over third man for a six, evoking memories of his more famous battles with Mitchell Johnson in the country. Once the bowlers adjusted their lengths, Rahane unfurled serene front-foot drives to keep India ticking.

Lyon and Cummins ended with combined figures of 39-7-74-0. On another day they could have run through the opposition with the irresistible pressure they applied, but on Saturday both Kohli and Rahane were immovable.

The day had started more promisingly for Australia with Paine and Cummins taking the hosts past 300 with a nuggety 59-run stand for the seventh wicket. However, they lost their last four wickets for 16 runs to be bowled out about 25 minutes before lunch. Kohli and Rahane then thrilled a crowd of 19,042 and seized the day for India.
VIEW SCORECARD

[Vikatakavi02]

Day 4: Nathan Lyon leaves India five down and sinking

---

India 283 and 5 for 112 (Vihari 24*, Pant 9*, Hazlewood 2-24, Lyon 2-30) need 175 to beat Australia 326 and 243 (Khawaja 72, Shami 6-56)

Nathan Lyon followed up his five-wicket haul in the first innings with the key wicket of Virat Kohli to set Australia up for a series-leveling victory at the new Perth Stadium. Ajinkya Rahane swung for the hills but history, the challenging pitch and India's dinosaur tail were all stacked up against them. Since the start of 2014, only six teams have chased 200 or more in 124 attempts, and overall, India have gone past 287 - the target Australia set them on the fourth day - only twice in a successful chase. They were five down and sinking at stumps.

India would have been facing a taller chase had Mohammed Shami not flicked on his second-innings switch after lunch. After India had gone wicketless in the morning, Shami exploited the wild variations in bounce to collect four wickets in five overs and ended with career-best returns of 6 for 56. While prancing deliveries had both the overnight batsmen Tim Paine and Usman Khawaja fending behind, Aaron Finch, who was cleared to bat after injuring his right index finger, was strangled down the leg side. But, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood swung their bats and ran up 36 together in 39 balls for the last wicket to stretch Australia's lead close to 300.

Starc and Hazlewood then swung the new ball to leave India two down within four overs. After spearing his first three balls across KL Rahul's off stump, Starc brought one back in, forcing him to drag one onto his stumps for a duck as he attempted to leave. Hazlewood then caused one to kick up from back of a length and removed Adelaide hero Cheteshwar Pujara for 4.
M Vijay, who is more or less in the same boat as Rahul on form, then combined with Kohli to briefly steady the shaky innings with a 35-run partnership for the third wicket. Pat Cummins resumed his mouth-watering battle with Kohli and kept threatening the India captain's outside edge and Vijay's body, but the the duo survived that spell. It was Lyon who dismissed both Kohli and Vijay off successive overs. After attacking Kohli's stumps with his first seven balls to him, he shifted his line wider and found drift to draw the outside edge, which was pouched at slip.

The celebration from Paine behind the stumps was rather subdued, given they had fired verbal volleys at each other in the morning. When Paine had been dismissed, Kohli chattered away, making his counterpart turn around for a reply.

Paine even had a go at Vijay after Lyon got one to break out of the footmarks and through the gate. Rahane came in swinging, and got out swinging, finding point after a brisk 30 off 47 balls. Vihari and Risbah Pant then resisted Australia's push for victory, forcing the match into the final day. But considering India's feeble lower order and recent fourth-innings trends, Australia are well poised to wrap up things on the fifth morning.

While Lyon continued to be the difference between the two sides, India spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav were wearing bibs and supplying drinks in the first session of the day. There was no joy for the India seamers until the post-lunch session. Paine and Khawaja countered everything India threw at them in an attritional first session, which yielded only 58 runs in 30 overs. Paine struck the only three boundaries in that session, including a cracking square-cut off Shami.

Several balls whizzed past the outside edge - and occasionally their throats - but Paine and Khawaja were largely unperturbed. Once India turned to the part-time offspin of Vihari, they tapped the ball into the gaps with more comfort. Umesh Yadav, too, leaked runs, conceding 61 runs in his 14 overs.

After struggling in his first three innings this series, Khawaja brought up his fifty and took Australia's lead past 200 with one shot: a neat back-foot clip through midwicket.

Shami then produced a lethal four-over burst, but Lyon and Australia would have the final say again.

WATCH SCORECARD

[Vikatakavi02]

LAST DAY: Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc blow away lower order to level series for Australia

Australia 326 (Harris 70, Head 58, Ishant 4-41) and 243 (Khawaja 72, Shami 6-56) beat India 283 (Kohli 123, Rahane 51, Lyon 5-67) and 140 (Lyon 3-39, Starc 3-46) by 146 runs

Australia made quick work of breaking India's lower-order resistance - a meek, thin, inexperienced resistance - to level the series at 1-1 before lunch on the fifth day. It was their first win since the Newlands episode in March, and Tim Paine's first as captain.

Having broken the overnight partnership inside six overs with Hanuma Vihari's wicket, Australia swiftly ran through India's long tail, albeit with some intimidation thrown in against the tailenders. Mitchell Starc was especially fiery, going relentlessly at Umesh Yadav and co., and taking two wickets on the morning. Nathan Lyon was crafty as ever at the other end, and snared Rishabh Pant to end India's chances inside an hour.

The odds weren't in India's favour to start with: since the start of 2014, only six teams had chased 200 or more in 124 attempts, and overall, India had gone past 287 - the target - only twice in a successful chase. With a sixth-wicket pair that had fewer than 10 Tests' experience between them, and a lack of any allrounders No. 8 onwards, it didn't look likely India would come close.

For what it was worth, Vihari looked compact in the first half hour of play, getting behind the line solidly against Starc, and using his wrists to pick up singles both in front of and behind the wicket against Lyon. But Perth's extra bounce persisted on the final day and Starc's pace was sufficient to make Vihari's inside-edge carry to square leg off the pad.

From there, it was upto Pant to bat with a lower order that has normally had at least one of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to help him out during his short career. In the absence of all three, Pant couldn't keep his innings going for long enough.

And Australia weren't going to make it easy. The field placements were telling of Pant's skillset, and how Australia had figured him out. For Starc, Australia had three fielders behind square on the off side against Pant - a deep point, a deep third man, and a fly slip. For a batsman who feasts on the front foot against bowlers on low pitches, this strategy seemed particularly stifling. Pant's propensity to slash rather than drive didn't help either, and for most of the early period after Vihari's dismissal, a lot of his shots were either skewed or off the leading edge. When he made occasional brute connection against Lyon, the field was spread out enough for it not to be damaging to them. They were giving nothing away to a thin, nervous lower order.

They weren't even letting them stand easy. Umesh was in Starc's crosshairs, copping at least two bouncers on the body, and being put on his backside trying to slash at another. In the middle of this barrage, he saw Lyon beat Pant in flight to have him caught superbly by Handscomb at midwicket, and after a cursed 23-ball stay, Umesh ended up fending a bouncer straight back to Starc.

Pat Cummins was then handed the ball for one last volley of bouncers. He managed to get Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah with them, and in the space of four balls, India fell to their sixth consecutive away defeat in a chase this year.

[Vikatakavi02]

Post-match Presentation:

Virat Kohli "As a team I think we played well in patches which we can hold onto. Australia played much better than us with the bat. 330 on that pitch we felt was a bit too much. They deserved to win. We had the belief we could do it, but they were more relentless and put us in trouble. [Our bowlers] are outstanding as a pack, to see them dominate was really good to see and something we want to build on. They are relentless even if they aren't getting wickets which is a great quality. When we looked at the pitch we didn't think about [Jadeja] but I thought Nathan bowled really well. We never thought we wanted to consider a spinner, thought four fast bowlers would be enough. When you don't win you don't really rank your performances so it's irrelevant because we didn't get the result we wanted. I'm just focused on the next Test. [The catch to dismiss him] It was a decision made on the field and it stays there. Nothing more to it."

Tim Paine "It's probably more a relief at the moment, first Test win has taken a while. Really proud of the players and staff. Good to get a little bit of reward. It was as difficult Test, both have been tough Tests. Two really competitive sides with good fast bowling attack. The pitch was flying through. It seemed like the roller had a real effect on it. Day one was a bit of a funny one, we crossed our fingers. Marcus and Aaron, to get us none for 100 was brilliant and probably the difference in the end. Uzzie has been batting well for a long time, bowling really well to all of us. He's in a really good space. It's great to have Gaz, every team wants a spinner like Nathan Lyon. He loves bowling to the best players in the world."

Player of the match goes to Nathan Lyon "It's amazing to play a role in a victory, haven't had one in a while. Thanks to everyone. Can't wait to sing the song. It's fair to say we've been in a drought, so good to break. Was special to wrap the tail up quickly. My role probably changed a bit, attacking in Adelaide to a defending on here. But luckily they ran down to the wicket to create a few footholes. When you come up against the best players, to compete against Virat and take his wicket was pretty special. Big thanks to my brother, I'm not a very good batter so just trying to play my role."