Australia vs India, 2020-21: 2nd Test – Who Said What

Prior to the second Test, there were talks about India getting whitewashed in the four-match Test series against Australia. It’s because Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj weren’t going to be a part of the last three Tests. Moreover, the fact that the visiting team folded for a mere 36 runs in the Day-Night Adelaide Test raised doubts over the credentials of the Indian team’s batting lineup.

However, Ajinkya Rahane and his men defied every other odd and made a stupendous comeback in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Not only did they manage to win by eight wickets, but also levelled the series 1-1. Barring losing the toss, India didn’t give the Aussies much to cheer about and they would be in high spirits before the third Test which starts on January 7.

India put forth a clinical show in the Boxing Day Test

Before the fourth day’s play, Rahane and Co were already on the driver’s seat as the Aussies had a lead of two runs with only four wickets left in the shed. Cameron Green’s gutsy 146-ball 45 kept India waiting for a while before Mohammed Siraj removed him. Pat Cummins also showed a great amount of resilience as he held his ground, scoring 22 patient runs off 103 balls.

Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood scored in the double digits, but their efforts could only set India a target of 70 runs in the fourth innings. Siraj was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he picked up three wickets. Even as Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja picked up two wickets each, Umesh Yadav got the wicket of Joe Burns to push the Aussies on the back foot from the outset.

Shubman Gill impresses yet again

India had a bit of jitter during their run-chase. Starc and Cummins got rid of Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara in quick succession. But then, debutant Shubman Gill and stand-in skipper Rahane made sure that the visitors accomplished the target without much fuss.

Gill looked fluent as he scored 35 runs at almost a run-a-ball, striking at 97.22. His knock was laced with seven fours. Rahane was fluent as well, scoring 27 runs off 40 balls with three fours. He also played the winning shot, getting a single off a pull through the square leg region.

Ajinkya Rahane, the Indian stand-in captain and Player of the Match, said

Really proud of all the players. Played really well. Want to give credit to the debutants Siraj and Gill, the character they showed after the Adelaide loss was great to see. Character was important for us, especially after losing Umesh in the second innings. That (five-bowler plan) worked well for us nicely.

We were thinking of having an all-rounder and Jadeja has been brilliant for us. Shubman, we all know his First-class career and in this game, he has shown the intent to play shots at this level. Has shown composure. Siraj has shown that he can bowl with discipline. It’s really difficult for debutants to bowl with discipline but that’s where I think the First-class experience comes in handy.

The talk was all about showing the attitude and intent on the field. As I said, character. Adelaide was about one hour that took the game away from us. Lots to learn for even now. Australia applied themselves with their last five wickets. Umesh is recovering well, management and medical staff will take the call. We’re excited about Rohit coming back. Spoke to him yesterday, he’s waiting to join the team.

Tim Paine, the Australian captain, said

Pretty disappointed. We played some poor cricket, sloppy cricket for a major part of the game. Credit to India, they forced us into mistakes with the bat, ball and also on the field. And when you do that against a quality team, it costs you. But again, need to credit India as they put us under pressure.

We have issues with the batting and need to get it sorted. We’ve seen the temperament that he (Green) showed and as he plays more games, he’ll get even better, which is exciting. (On the team plans in coming days) We’ll stay together probably although some guys may get released to play BBL games but mostly, we should be together.