Despite a stupendous partnership of 71 off 100 balls between Ravindra Jadeja (48 off 51 balls) and Ajinkya Rahane (29 * 71 runs), India found themselves in a precarious position at stumps, 151 for five in reply to Australia’s first innings total of 469, trailing by 318 runs.
As it happened: WTC Final, Day 2
India’s famed top-order batsmen struggled against the relentless pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Scott Boland, who extracted more variable bounce at The Oval than their Indian counterparts.
Australia began the day by adding 142 runs to their overnight total before being bowled out in the afternoon session. Indian bowler Mohammad Siraj was the best performer, taking four wickets to clean up the tail.
Shubman Gill (13) and Cheteshwar Pujara (14) failed to leave the ball effectively, falling prey to misjudgment of line and length – a vital skill in English conditions. Gill, who had shown promise, flicked an incoming delivery from Boland which resulted in his stumps being broken. Pujara, who had spent more time in England than his teammates, didn’t take a shot off Cameron Green’s fast-paced delivery.
The fall began when Captain Rohit Sharma (15) was lbw by Cummins. Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli (14) Starc was the victim of a brilliant ball, which fell the fourth wicket of the Indian innings. Rahane and Jadeja put up a tough fight, but the Australian pacers continued to pose a challenge.
Rahane got lucky when he was adjudged not out on a no ball from Cummins, at which time he had scored 17 runs. Jadeja showed intent by hitting seven fours and a six off Boland.
At the tea break, India were 37 for two in 10 overs having lost both the openers.
After lunch, Alex Carey played an important inning of 48 runs in 69 balls and took Australia beyond 450 runs. However, Jadeja’s attempted reverse sweep resulted in him getting trapped in front of the wicket.
India came back in the match with four wickets in the morning session. However, Australia maintained the lead by scoring 422 runs for seven wickets till lunch. steve smithBrilliant 31st Test century.
Starting the day on 95, Smith wasted no time in bringing up his hundred with back-to-back boundaries off Siraj. While India failed to use the short ball strategy effectively on the first day, Siraj immediately resorted to it on the second day. Smith was not upset, but his batting partner was travis head (163 out of 174) seemed uncomfortable. Eventually, a short ball from Siraj resulted in wicketkeeper KS Bharath’s head breaking their 285-run partnership.
Cameron Green’s campaign off Shami came to an end when he was caught by an alert Gill at second slip. Smith’s prized wicket came unexpectedly when he pulled a harmless delivery from Shardul Thakur back onto his stumps, highlighting Thakur’s knack of providing breakthroughs out of the blue.
A brilliant innings from substitute fielder Axar Patel resulted in India’s fourth wicket of the day as his one-handed direct hit from mid-off took Mitchell Starc off his ground.
(With inputs from PTI)