Ind vs Aus: Back in balance

Bengaluru: With their backs to the wall, Virat Kohli’s Indians were fighting to save the Test even as the Aussies exerted pressure in a tussle that seems to be set for an interesting finish. While the skipper himself failed to get going for the fourth time in this series, in sharp contrast to the four centuries that he reeled off in a row in the four-match series when they toured Down Under in 2014-15, the home series has panned out hugely different from what Kohli & Co. may have envisioned.

Having said that, India, conceding a 87-run lead — sizeable in the context of the match and the unpredictability of the turf — were still hanging in there, but just about after bowling out the Aussies for 276.

Firstly through K.L. Rahul’s second fifty of the match and then shepherded by the composed Cheteshwar Pujara (79 n.o., 173b, 6x4) and his unbroken 93-run association with a confident-looking Ajinkya Rahane (40 n.o., 105b, 3x4) for the fifth wicket, India erased the deficit and moved to 213/4.

At close on Day Three of the second Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, India, under the pump for two days, were ahead by 126 runs with six wickets in hand.

Nothing too large given that two days remain in this Test. Not too less and without a chance either given the wear and tear on a wicket with extremely variable bounce.

They are not out of the woods yet. Much depends on this pair to keep their heads down and take the fight into the Aussie camp on the fourth day. A minimum of 250-plus will be necessary as a target and make a fist of it; it’s still a long way away and given the way we’ve collapsed in three innings a lot will rest on Pujara.

A lot of credit for keeping the fight going was also owed to Ravindra Jadeja. The left-arm spinner, not used as much R. Ashwin despite being the only other tweaker, ended up  with 6/63, a seventh five-for in his career and restricting the visitors to 39 in the morning.

Though unsurprisingly Kohli operated with Ishant Sharma and Ashwin again, Jadeja was to be their charm.

Running back a good distance, Jadeja safely pouched Mitchell Starc at deep mid wicket to give some respite to Ashwin, who ended up with 2-84 from 49 overs. Kohli then turned to the left-armer in the ninth over of the morning and he struck promptly removing Matthew Wade, who added 15 to his overnight 25 before sending back their first innings destroyer Nathan Lyon first-ball. Jadeja then wrapped it up as Josh Hazlewood found Rahul in the deep as Kohli’s men kept the lead to less than 100.

The start of their second was confident and bright, Rahul and Abhinav Mukund taking them to 38 without loss at lunch, with Mukund even managing a swivel top-edge pull off Starc behind the wicket-keeper for six.

Starc was bemused but not Hazlewood.  The right-arm paceman came steaming in after lunch, hit the spot and with his seam movement rocked the hosts. Mukund was castled by beauty while Rahul, looking good for a big one, completed his fifty before a blinder from Steve Smith saw him back in the hut. Attempting to cut Steve O’Keefe’s wide delivery, Rahul’s edge flew fast and furious but Smith dived full stretch to his right and plucked the ball mid-air. Hazlewood then stunned the crowd removing Kohli.

Scorecard
India (1st innings): 189
Australia (1st innings, o/n 237/6): D. Warner b Ashwin 33, M. Renshaw st Saha b Jadeja 60, S. Smith c Saha b Jadeja 8, S. Marsh c Nair b Yadav 66, P. Handscomb c Ashwin b Jadeja 16, M. Marsh lbw b Sharma 0, M. Wade lbw b Jadeja 40, M. Starc c Jadeja b Ashwin 26, S. O’Keefe (not out) 4, N. Lyon lbw b Jadeja 0, J. Hazlewood c Rahul b Jadeja 1. Extras: (b 14, lb 3, nb 5) 22. Total: (in 122.4 overs) 276.
FoW: 1-52, 2-82, 3-134, 4-160, 5-163, 6-220, 7-269, 8-274, 9-274.
Bowling: Sharma 27-8-48-1 (3nb), Yadav 24-7-57-1 (1nb), Ashwin 49-13-84-2, Jadeja 21.4-1-63-6, Nair 1-0-7-0.
India (2nd innings): K.L. Rahul c Smith b O’Keefe 51, A. Mukund b Hazlewood 16, C. Pujara (batting) 79, V. Kohli lbw b Hazlewood 15, R. Jadeja b Hazlewood 2, A. Rahane (batting) 40. Extras: (b 10) 10. Total: (for 4 wkts, in 72 overs) 213.
FoW: 1-39, 2-84, 3-112, 4-120.
Bowling: Starc 10-0-45-0, Hazlewood 16-0-57-3, Lyon 27-2-69-0, O’Keefe 16-3-28-1, Marsh 3-0-4-0