India v Australia, 2nd Test, Day 2: Lyon roars in Indian den, no clear winner but in a see-saw battle

Australia discovered a tit-for-tat response with the ball to India to maintain the second Test right here on a knife’s edge after two days of gripping motion. Nathan Lyon (5 for 67) flummoxed India’s top-order batters and the opposite spinners – Todd Murphy and Matthew Kuhnemann – made necessary breakthroughs to provide their group the benefit earlier than Axar Patel (74, 115b, 9×4, 3×6) and R. Ashwin made hay off the outdated ball to revive parity.

Australian openers Usman Khawaja and Travis Head couldn’t stick collectively for the final hour of the day’s play, with Khawaja caught at quick leg for six. Ashwin and Jadeja did attempt their methods however there wasn’t a lot harm they might inflict on Australia. At stumps, Australia was 61 for 1, 62 runs forward within the second innings, Head entertaining in his strokeful innings of 39 (unbeaten).

Scorecard and ball-by-ball commentary

Earlier, Australia’s premier spinner Lyon discovered the best method to make a big effect on the sport. He grew into a pleasant rhythm bowling from across the wicket and getting his deliveries to pitch on a superb size. Most deliveries turned barely, some turned sharply, and others went on with the angle. Such was his accuracy that India’s batting line-up was in a state of catatonia for the primary half of the day. Lyon wasn’t as efficient with the outdated ball, deviations from the trajectory of the ball roughly disappearing. It was in such a state of affairs that R. Ashwin and Axar Patel caught collectively for 177 balls, including 114 invaluable runs for India. Pat Cummins introduced himself on to get reverse swing however couldn’t get a complete lot of it.

Ok. L. Rahul was the primary to depart; he fell lbw, paying the worth for failing to barter sharp flip. Rohit Sharma appeared for flip however the ball went on straight after pitching and hit the stumps.

Cheteshwar Pujara was additionally undone by Lyon’s flip. He walked out to bat in his 100 ^th Test amid enormous cheers however lasted solely seven deliveries. He got here down the pitch to smother a good-length supply from Lyon off the second supply he confronted, and was struck on the pads, however wasn’t given out on the sector; the Australians thought in opposition to taking the evaluate however replays confirmed he would have been out. The miscalculation didn’t price the guests a lot, nevertheless, as Pujara made the identical mistake in Lyon’s subsequent over. This time, the Australians went for the evaluate and he needed to stroll again.

Shreyas Iyer wasn’t fooled by the spinners however misplaced his wicket to a superb catch at quick leg by Peter Handscomb. At 66 for 4, the house group was effectively and really beneath stress.

The different two spinners within the Australian line-up bowled effectively, too. Kuhnemann and Murphy introduced in regards to the downfall of two batters who threatened to take the sport away from Australia – Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli. Even as their partnership of 59 runs was blossoming, the duo weren’t in full management, many occasions failing to decipher the place the ball would go after pitching.

Kohli judged the lengths of the deliveries effectively, committing totally to both the entrance foot or the again foot. Despite batting with warning, two of his 4 boundaries have been streaky. One of them was off an edge, the ball evading the slips and racing to the boundary, whereas the opposite was off a backside edge with the ball protecting low. He was at his most susceptible throughout an over quickly by Murphy bowled quickly after lunch. Both Kohli and Jadeja, who was equally tentative off the spinners, fell attempting to smother the ball off the entrance foot.

Ashwin and Axar needed to then dig deep to resuscitate India’s innings. They milked the spinners round for runs and the humdrum proceedings within the night have been interspersed with a couple of huge hits from Axar, who survived a half-chance or two en path to a full of life 74. Minutes earlier than tea, he clubbed Kuhnemann for a 4 and a six off back-to-back deliveries earlier than chopping Cummins fiercely by way of level for an additional 4. Later, he slog-swept Kuhnemann once more for an additional six, this time to carry up his 50. Four extra belligerent hits for 3 boundaries and a six have been to observe, earlier than he was caught out in opposition to the run of play, within the second over bowled with the brand new ball.

The Indian tail didn’t final lengthy after the brand new ball was taken, making it an even-steven affair.