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On day two of the third test in the Border-Gavaskar tournament, the Indian bowlers came out ruthless as they restricted the Aussies to 197 runs in the first innings. As a result, the Aussies went from 186/4 to 197/10. For the Indian side, bowlers R Ashwin and Umesh Yadav turned up, each taking three wickets. Umesh Yadav also completed his 100th wicket in India.
The 40 runs partnership between Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green was the only positive for the Aussies on day two until noon. India’s tally in the second innings until lunch stands at 13/0. Post lunch, in the second session, the first breakthrough for the Aussies came in the 5th over when Lyon took out Shubman Gill for just five runs. Gill comes down the track and tries to swing him hard on the inside but misses. At the end of the 7th over, team India trails by 70 runs.
As Gill was dismissed, Cheteshwar Pujara joined skipper Rohit Sharma. Now it will be interesting to see Nathan Lyon playing against Pujara. Lyon has dismissed Pujara 12 times in 31 innings. Lyon has dismissed Pujara seven times in India and five times in Australia. In the 13th, over a massive appeal from the Aussies as Lyon reckons he’s ripped one past Pujara and caught the edge. Replay showed the movement seen was the natural variation of spin, not the human fallibility of snick. Nathan Lyon gets his second for the day by taking out captain Rohit Sharma for 12 runs in the 14th over. Lovely bowling from round the wicket crashes into the pads plumb in front.
At the end of the 20th over, 50 runs came up for India and they trailed by 38 runs only for the loss of two wickets. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli stood on crease not out with 20 and 9 runs, respectively. Matthew Kuhnemann opened his account for the day by dismissing Virat Kohli for 13 runs in the 22nd over. Lyon bowled the 23rd over and gave away five runs from this one, with Jadeja getting off the mark with a nudge off the inside of his bat towards midwicket, and Pujara takes a single and three more with a cut off the back foot. In the 25th over, Pujara went for a boundary to reduce the pressure for India as he leans back and hammers a pull in front of the square for four. At the end of the 29th over, India trailed by just 11 runs, with Pujara playing a fantastic knock as he stands not out for 35 runs. India lost the fourth wicket of Jadeja when a partnership of 23 runs was slowly building between Pujara and Jadeja. Jadeja got dismissed for just seven by Lyon. India’s tally at the time of tea stood at 79/4.
India leads by 12 runs in day two’s third and final session, with this 100 runs coming up for India at the 34th over. He goes on backfoot and slapped the ball over the deep midwicket—superb shot from him. As a result, India leads by 24 runs. Sixty-eight runs of partnership come up between Iyer and Pujara. In back-to-back wickets for the Aussies, Mitchell Starc ended Shreyas Iyer’s stay at 26 runs, and Lyon took out Bharat for just three runs. Lyon now has four wickets in his name for the day. At the 45th over, Pujara gets his 50—25th half-century for Cheteshwar Pujara. However, there’s no stopping Lyon as he takes out Ashwin LBW. This is the 23rd time Lyon has taken five wickets in test cricket. Ashwin and Lyon have taken out each other six times in test cricket. Rohit Sharma asks and Cheteshwar Pujara delivers, as he comes down the track and smashes Nathan Lyon for a huge one over deep mid-wicket. In the second ball of the 56th over, Pujara’s brilliant spell ends as he gets dismissed 59 runs. Following his departure, Lyon also takes out Umesh Yadav for zero runs. In the end, Lyon finished it in style by taking Siraj. The off-spin bowler took eight wickets for just 64 runs. Axar Patel remained not out on 15 runs.
