India overcame setbacks on the second day of the Nagpur Test thanks to a brilliant 120 from captain Rohit Sharma and fifty-plus scores from Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Todd Murphy, an Australian debutant, was Australia’s best bowler with a five-fer, but as the day went on, India solidly established their dominance of the match.
As the Australian attack grew weary late in the day, Jadeja and Patel’s partnership of 81 runs for the eighth wicket strengthened India’s position. On a challenging pitch, India’s lead increased to 144 when Patel scored his second fifty in a Test and Jadeja reached his 18th.
Rohit, who anchored the innings with a ruthless display against the spinners on a changing field, set the tone for India’s batting.
The bowler who had put India in difficult situations in the opening two sessions was Murphy. Virat Kohli was strangled down the legside off the first ball after the lunch break after he had had taken two wickets in the opening session. After Suryakumar Yadav hit a boundary with the second ball of his Test debut, he did not play for very long. India lost half of their team and trailed by 8 runs after he was bowled through the gate while attempting to drive Nathan Lyon.
After that, Rohit Sharma, who was closing in on a century, made it with a chip over cover against Murphy. It helped India quickly seize the lead and earned him his eighth tonne at home.
Following the setbacks, India was helped to create a lead by Ravindra Jadeja, who was able to field a couple loose deliveries to the boundary and even survive a close LBW review against Murphy.
R Ashwin and Rohit, the overnight batsmen, scored some crucial runs early on for India earlier in the day. As their combination irritated Australia for the first half of the session, both were fortunate to grab boundaries off outside edges but also managed to strike a six each – Rohit pushing Cummins over deep square leg and Ashwin slog-sweeping Lyon over midwicket.
Before Australia retaliated, the pair had carried their relationship into the 1940s and were starting to settle down. Murphy succeeded in hitting Ashwin on the front pad by following a line as he came around the wicket. Australia felt confident in requesting a review even though the on-field call was still not in, and it paid off when Ashwin was LBW on strike number 23.
The next opponent for Australia was a proactive Cheteshwar Pujara, who was able to score a boundary right away. However, the strategy was his demise since he attempted to sweep a delivery from outside leg and presented a straightforward catch to short fine leg, giving Murphy his third wicket. The spinner had requested a review after hitting Rohit in the pad, but Australia ultimately lost on both counts—for a catch and for LBW.
But despite Rohit’s overall largely flawless batting over three sessions and skillful leadership of India, that was still the closest call for him. With the second new ball, Pat Cummins delivered a peach to get him out for 120, threatening to reopen the door for Australia. At this point, India led by 52 runs, and KS Bharat, a debutant, was caught by Murphy after DRS declared him LBW on 8. However, Patel began the match in a stoic fashion before finding his rhythm against a worn-out attack, thus ending Australia’s aspirations.
Smith’s dismissal of Jadeja in the last over worsened Australia’s problems and gave India a good chance to extend their lead on the third day as well.
Brief Scores: India 226/5 (Rohit Sharma 120, Ravindra Jadeja 66, Axar Patel 52; Todd Murphy 5-82) lead Australia 177 all out (Marnus Labuschagne 49; R Jadeja 5/47) by 144 runs.
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