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Australia middle-order batter Travis Head came to open with Usman Khawaja during the second innings in the absence of regular opener David Warner and helped Australia take a 62-run lead over India at stumps on day 2 of the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, on Saturday.
In the second innings, Australia came out attacking and scored some quick runs to put a total of 61/1 in just 12 overs. Head is unbeaten on 39 off 40 balls, hitting five fours and a six, while his partner Marnus Labuschagne smashed three fours for his 16 not out off 19 balls.
Australia managed to take a first-inning lead of just one run after left-arm spin all-rounder Axar Patel scored a vital 74 off 115 balls, hitting nine fours and three sixes to help India recover from 139/7 and finish at 262/10 in their first innings.
India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin scored a crucial 37 off 71 balls, including five fours to add a 114-run stand with Axar for the eighth wicket. Because of this partnership, Australia failed to take a 50-100 run lead which can be massive on this pitch given India has to bat last in the fourth innings.
Recently, India’s lower order has been phenomenal and has bailed them out many times after they were in trouble. Since 2019, the Indian lower order batters from No.8 to No.11 have added 2363 Test runs at an average of 18.6. They have four-century stands, which is the most by any team in Test cricket.
After not getting success in the first Test of the series in Nagpur, off-spinner Nathan Lyon came back in his form and ran through India’s batting order with his 5/67 to help Australia dominate in the first half of the second day.
35-year-old Lyon took important wickets of opener KL Rahul (17), India captain Rohit Sharma (32), Cheteshwar Pujara (0), and Shreyas Iyer (4) in quick time.
India keeper Srikar Bharat was Lyon’s fifth scalp, who tried to play a sweep shot to a ball way outside the leg stump and ended up top-edging it straight to the first slip.
Travis Head’s counter-attack gives Australia the momentum at stumps 👊#WTC23 | #INDvAUS | 📝: https://t.co/HS93GIyEwS pic.twitter.com/xBk322Sdtf
— ICC (@ICC) February 18, 2023
With his fifth wicket, Lyon became the only third player to take 100 Test wickets against India after England’s James Anderson (139) and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (105).
Lyon’s 100 wickets came at an average of 34.60 and include eight 5-wicket hauls. With 40 wickets, Lyon has equalled Muralitharan to become the fourth-highest wicket-taker against India in India.
Former India captain Virat Kohli along with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (26) stitched a vital 59-run partnership off 129 balls for the fifth wicket to help India recover from 66/4 and get to 125/5.
Kohli defended well and was decisive in his footwork. He kept the scoreboard ticking and pounced on any loose balls bowled at him by the Australian bowlers. On the other hand, Jadeja was solid in his defence and scored boundaries to Murphy and Lyon.
However, Jadeja soon got trapped lbw plumb in front by a ball coming in with the arm from off-spinner Toddy Murphy. Jadeja wasted the review with the replays showing the ball hitting the middle stump.
Kohli looked good for his 44 off 84 balls, hitting 4 fours before getting out lbw while playing a forward defensive shot to debutant left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, who took his maiden Test wicket. Kohli was given out lbw by the on-field umpire Nitin Menon and he took no time to go for the review.
With the ball hitting Kohli’s bat and pad at the same time, TV umpire Richard Illingworth decided that the ball has hit the pad first and retained the on-field call as ball tracking showed wickets umpire’s call, with the ball just clipping the leg stump.
Earlier before the start of play on Day 2, it was announced that Warner has been ruled out for the remainder of the second Test due to a concussion and Matthew Renshaw will be replacing him as a concussion substitute.
Warner took multiple hits on Day 1 from bouncers bowled by Mohammed Siraj. The first bouncer took an edge and hit straight to Warner’s elbow, while the second one struck his helmet which later ruled him out of the game as he failed a concussion test.
Playing his 100th Test match, Pujara made a duck in the first innings and has joined an exclusive list of players which includes Dilip Vengsarkar, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Courtney Walsh, Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum, and Alastair Cook.
Meanwhile, Australia lead by 62 runs with nine wickets in hand and are certainly ahead in the game. India on the other hand will be looking to get early wickets in the morning session on Day 3 as batting last on this pitch in the fourth innings will certainly be challenging.
Brief scores: Australia 263/10 and 61/1 in 12 overs (Travis Head 39*, Marnus Labuschagne 16*; Ravindra Jadeja 1/23) lead India 262/10 in 83.3 overs (Axar Patel 74, Virat Kohli 44; Nathan Lyon 5/67, Todd Murphy 2/53) by 62 runs.
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