The second day of the ongoing Test between India and Australia in Pune has concluded for the day where Australia have scored 143/4 and are leading by 298 runs. Steve Smith (59 of 117 balls) and Mitchel Marsh (21 of 48 balls) were there at the crease by the day’s end and will start the innings on February 25.
On February 24 morning, the Day 2 of the first test between India and Australia brought another success for the Indian squad as spinner R Ashwin extracted the last Aussie scalp with the morning light and restricted the guests at a total score of 260. The last wicket fell was Mitchel Starc who was caught by Ravindra Jadeja on Ashwin’s delivery and was dismissed at 61 (63). That was all team India wanted. An early wicket in the opening over and then they could come into bat.
The Indian began with openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay who came to withstand the Pune pitch conditions. In the 7th over, Hazlewood dismissed opener Murali Vijay at 10 (19) and got the breakthrough Aussies wanted. Vijay missed the line of the ball on that occasion and edged the ball into keeper Matthew Wade’s gloves.
After a few spells of Hazlewood, O’Keefe and Lyon, Starc was brought in at the 15th over and he caused other dents to the Indian batting line. Firstly, he dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara for 6(23) on the second ball while gulped skipper Virat Kohli in the 4th ball and he was dismissed for a golden duck.
After losing three early wickets on Day 2 of the first game of the Test series between India and Australia, KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane went back on the crease carry the inning forward as they trailed by 190 runs. KL Rahul somehow managed to cross the mark of 50 runs and gradually moved forward to the 64 run mark. Then came Steve O’Keefe who dismissed KL Rahul at 64 as Rahul opted for a mistimed should and hurt his shoulder as well. Within no time, just after one ball, O’Keefe didn’t spare Rahane and sent him back to the pavilion at 13 (55).
After that, the entire scenario seemed going in the favour of the Aussies. Damaging the entire batting line up, Steeve O’Keefe took six-fer and hunted down KL Rahul, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Jayant Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav and Umesh Yadav.
Taking a lead of 155, the Australians came back on the field to bat and set a target big enough for the Indians to chase. This time with David Warner but a duo of Warner and Marsh took the responsibility to take the caravan ahead. Ashwin, who took 3 wickets in the first innings, didn’t waste time and dismissed David Warner in the last ball of the very first over. Soon, Ashwin found his second prey in the form of Shaun Marsh and dismissed him for a golden duck.
In the third session, Skipper Smith and Peter Handscomb continued the innings. A few overs later, Ashwin took his third wicket in the second innings and dismissed Handscomb at 19 (34). Then came yesterday’s centre of attraction and gossips, Matt Renshaw who tried his best to accompany the captain who was moving ahead strongly. But soon, Skipper Kohli handed over the ball to Jayant Yadav who sent Renshaw back to pavilion after scoring 31 of 50 balls.
Mitchel Marsh was the next man to come in while the duo of Marsh and Smith concluded the seconday’s play at 143/4.
