Well, that ended in the blink of an eye, didn’t it? The second day ended with Australian players sporting big smiles after reaching 61/1 in their second dig. The Test was nicely poised, potential for a thrilling finish. India would have been preparing for a 200-plus chase. And then the scenario changed dramatically. Ravindra Jadeja began the demolition job on the 2nd day itself when he got rid of Usman Khawaja but the majority of it came in the morning session when he ran through Australian batting order like a hot knife through butter. He finished with figures of 7/42 as the tourists crumbled against spin to be bowled out for 113 before the session would end. Not to forget, Ravichandran Ashwin was the bowler who kick-started the collapse when he removed overnight batter Travis Head on 43. He finished with three wickets.
India’s chase began with the dismissal of KL Rahul to Nathan Lyon in the second over itself. However, Rohit Sharma batted with a positive mindset, hitting boundaries and his entertaining innings of 31 was cut short thanks to a mix-up with Cheteshwar Pujara resulting his run out. Virat Kohli was looking good but he was stumped for the first time in his Test career and Shreyas Iyer played a couple of good shots before perishing himself.
However, Pujara continued to bat the way he does. And saw through a successful chase, hitting the winning boundary as India overhauled the target in 26.4 overs to finish with 118/4 and win by six wickets. They take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series and also retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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Source: www.news18.com
