IND v AUS 1st Test, Day 2 Review: Australia dominate the day; in complete control of the game

While others visitors have managed to win just a few sessions Australia took the entire day. It was thorough dominance from the No.2 team and very little India could do. After that kind of a batting performance where just three batsmen managed double digit scores the morale of the team looked down. Though Ravichandran Ashwin picking two wickets early gave them some hope but Steve Smith’s half century has almost taken the game away.

In Smith’s success the Indian fielders had a contribution as well; he was dropped as many as four times around the bat, at leg slip and short leg. Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and the substitute fielder Abhinav Mukund are all on most days safe catchers. Another aspect where nothing went India’s way was with the reviews Jayant Yadav convinced Virat to take two but none of them materialized.

Earlier in the day, it took Ravichandran Ashwin just four balls to end Australia’s first innings and cost the team just 4 runs. After batting so well in the last session of the first day to score a half century he played a slog sweep against Ashwin only for Ravindra Jadeja to catch him at the cow corner ropes. Australian innings thus concluded on 260 but they would definitely be pleased with that having been 205/9.

Starc was ready as Murali Vijay and KL Rahul walked out to open the innings for Team India. The pitch was all roughed up, the moisture dried with the hard roller having a roll in the time the teams changed up. Acting in line with the Indian strategy Steve Smith also opted to hand over the ball to his left-arm spinner Steven O’Keefe. The batsmen looked to watch the ball early and see what it was doing.

Also read- Ravichandran Ashwin surpasses Kapil Dev for most wickets in a home season

Rahul got off the mark against Starc with a boundary and scored one each in the next from O’Keffe and the left-arm pacer as well. Vijay looked good coming here on the back of a century but the bowling change from Smith did the trick for him and was the undoing on Vijay. Hazlewood brought one in, took another away and the Indian opener looked pretty certain against them but this delivery that had the shining side on the inside but pitched and straightened and took the outside edge off the right-hander’s bat and there was the first breakthrough.

After an early wicket Indian looked up to Cheteshwar Pujara get things back in control but he couldn’t. Smith got back Starc for the second spell and he had Pujara on the second ball. At over 90mph he was able to extract that extra bounce off the surface and caught Pujara on the crease. There was nothing much he could’ve done against it, the ball took his glove and he was walking. A loud cheer and Indian skipper Virat Kohli walked out to bat.

The Pune crowd witnessing the first ever Test match expected a big knock from the skipper and with the team under pressure having lost a couple of wickets that is what Virat does. But Starc set him up well with one just outside the off-stump the next was full and wide and in the form he is, couldn’t curb his instinct to go for it and being new at the crease just managed to edge it to Peter Handscomb at first slip who wouldn’t drop the most prized catch.

Virat was out for a duck, for the first time in 45 Test innings, the last time that happened was back in England in 2014. To Smith’s credit, he shuffled his bowlers really well, set almost perfect fields in sync with the strategy the bowlers were up for. India were 3 down for 44 and Ajinkya Rahane was there to partner Rahul.

They had a huge task in hand with their three most prominent batsmen back in the hut. With Nathan Lyon and O’Keefe operating now, things looked easier and Rahul was able to get his runs, he had already scored a few boundaries and was looking good having spent some time in the middle. With seven boundaries and a six he walked in at lunch with 47 runs, Rahane after playing 23 balls looked solid as well. Team India ended the session at 70/3 and it definitely belonged to Australia.

If three wickets down at Lunch looked scary to the Indian fans they were in for a horror. In the second session of the day Team India didn’t just lose 7 wickets but lost those for 35 runs and the last six wickets for 11 runs. Steve O’Keefe who was underplayed as the lesser spinner in the Australian team proved to be the nemesis today.

The ball was turning and bouncing, and the batsmen couldn’t really do anything. Rank turners were expected to test the Aussies and prove difficult for them but instead, the hosts couldn’t stand firm with their own strength. There was one particular wicket that triggered this. After lunch with Rahane and Rahul things looked stable. They had their eye in and the opener, in particular, was playing his shots.

The boundaries he hit were forcing Smith to rethink the field as well, having scored a half century and done all the hard work Rahul played an irresponsible shot. With long-off back at the ropes in the form of David Warner he chipped down the track and tried to his O’Keefe over the fielder but just managed to hit it to Warner.

In the same over Rahane was caught magnificently in the slip by Peter Handscomb, Wriddhiman Saha on the second ball he faced edged it and there were no recognized batsmen left to take the team anywhere near the Australian total. There was absolutely nothing from the Indian batsmen thereafter and the left-arm spinner was all over them. O’Keefe concluded the innings with a six-wicket haul and Australia gained a 155-run lead.

David Warner started off in the all aggression approach – he had the license to go for his shots, he scored 10 runs in 6 balls but was out lbw by Ravichandran Ashwin, the Indians were celebrating but they knew that wasn’t a reason to rejoice. Shaun Marsh stayed at the crease for 21 balls but couldn’t even notch up a single run and was dismissed in a replica of Warner’s dismissal and was plumb in front.

Smith manned up the crease with Handscomb at tea and the No.1 Test batsman looked good for his 27. They went into the break 2 down for 46 with the lead already over 200.

Ashwin and Jadeja operated for the first 27 overs in tandem, they were bowling really well and the ball was beating the edge of the bat and a few that went to the fielders were put down. There was a crucial 40 runs partnership between Handscomb and Smith but was broken as the former was caught at leg-slip by Vijay.

Matt Renshaw who didn’t come out to open today walked in at 5 and played with similar assurance and wasn’t deterred by what the bowlers were managing to pull off from the surface. The duo added 50 runs together and took the lead over 250 Australia were starting to feel comfortable with every run. Renshaw attacked the spinners like he did in the previous inning and also took on Ashwin who he hadn’t challenged earlier, the big shots forced Virat to open the field a bit as well and the runs were coming easier. He played an over aggressive shot against Jayant Yadav and finally an Indian fielder held onto a catch – it was Ishant Sharma at long on.

Mitchell Marsh then put in a lot of effort to settle himself in; having a set batsman in Smith at the other end helped since he kept the scoreboard ticking. They played a lot of sweeps as well as the unconventional reverse sweep against the Indian spinners. Virat couldn’t go all out with the attacking strategy. Smith with his half century has proved it isn’t impossible to bat on the wicket that should give the Indian batsmen a lot of confidence coming in to bat in the fourth innings but the score on the board – a lead of 298 runs with 6 wickets in hand will certainly worry them.

Brief Scores

1st innings

Australia: 260/10 (Matt Renshaw 68, Mitchell Starc 61; Umesh Yadav 4/32)

India: 105/10 (KL Rahul 64; Steve O’Keefe 6/35)

2nd innings

Australia: 143/4 (Steve Smith 59*; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/68)