Australia vs India 2nd Test match: Post the 1st Test loss India seeks to win the 2nd test to stay alive and confident in the absence of Virat Kohli. Indian skipper Virat Kohli left to India to be with his family for their first baby birth.
In his absence, Ajinkya Rahane leads the Indian side to face Australia in the remaining test matches.
Match: Australia vs India, 2nd Test
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Toss: Australia won the toss and opt to bat.
Playing XI
Australia
Matthew Wade, Joe Burns, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine(w/c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
India
Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia vs India 2nd Test Highlights
Day 1
Australia Batting(1st innings)
Burns and Wade get into the crease to lead Australia. Bumrah opens the attack on behalf of India. India needs to pick early wickets in order to avoid the mistake that they did in the 1st test match.
The hosts show their patience by making slow progress in the 1st innings of the match. Bumrah who found his mojo in the 2nd test match loads pressure over the opponent batsmen. Soon in the 5th over of the 1st innings, Bumrah dismissed Burns for 0 runs and makes the much-expected start for the Indian team.
The aggressive batsman Marnus Labuschagne gets in to the crease and join hands with Matthew Wade. The duo poses a real threat for the Indian bowling unit but fell to shine in Ashwin’s spell.
Ashwin in the 13th over of the inning dismissed Wade for 30 runs. No.1 Test batsman Steve Smith gets into the crease. After failing to shine in the 1st test match Steve is expected to make massive progress in this match.
But again failed to the same bowler. Ashwin plays like the worst nightmare for Steve Smith in the long format as well as in the short format. Ashwin dismissed Steve Smith for a duck. A rare and repeated failure for Steve Smith.
Still, India seeks to dismiss the dangerous batsman Labuschagne. Travis Head and Labuschagne join hands and in pressure to build a massive partnership. Though the Aussies lose early wickets their middle-order batsman shows consistency and leads Australia as expected.
Lunch Break
Prior to the lunch, Australia scored 65 runs for 3 wickets loss while playing 27 overs. India needs to break this partnership to avoid a massive run chase. Labuschagne with a strong beating style defends the aggressive Indian bowling unit and loads pressure over India.
As expected this deadly duo moved Australia to score beyond 100 runs with their unbreakable partnership. Australia scored 104 runs for 3 wickets loss at the end of the 38th over. Head smashed a back to back boundary in Bumrah’s over and shows his confidence level in batting.
Drinks Break
52 runs scored off the 13 overs in the last hour. Post the drinks break Bumrah in the 42nd over dismissed Head for 38 runs. Bumrah successfully breaks the dangerous partnership.
Stil Labuschagne is in the strike which means Aussies batsman can make another deadly partnership. Siraj in the 50th over dismissed Labuschagne for 48 runs and registered his maiden Test wicket.
A massive blow for Australia as they lose their match changing batsman.
Tea Break
Ashwin resumes to bowl after the tea break. Australia struggles to score runs and focus on making a partnership.
But Siraj in the 62nd over dismissed Green for 12 runs. Ashwin continued to load pressure by dismissing skipper Paine for 13 runs in the very next over.
India have seven wickets now!
Live #AUSvIND: https://t.co/qwpaGhOixs pic.twitter.com/3DTOwo18Zn — cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 26, 2020
India continues to be the upper hand in the 1st innings as Bumrah in 68th over dismissed Starc for 7 runs and starts to collapse Australia’s lower order. At the end of the 68th over Australia scored 166 runs for 8 wickets loss.
Lyon loses his wicket to Bumrah after striking a back to back six and a boundary. In the followed over Jadeja dismissed Cummins for 9 runs and winds up Australia’s 1st innings while scoring 195 runs.
India Batting(1st innings)
Agarwal and Shubman Gill get in to lead India. Starc opens the attack on behalf of Australia. Starc loads pressure over India by dismissing Mayank Agarwal in the very first over.
India faces a much-unwanted start for them. Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara get in to join hands with Gill.
Stumps
Watch Australia vs India 2nd Test Day 1 Highlights
Day 2
India Batting
Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara continued the innings as expected on day 2 of the 2nd test match. The duo pumped the score to 50 runs stand for 1 wicket loss.
Cummins in the 22nd over dismissed Gill while scoring 45 runs. The young gun missed a well-deserved half-century. Acting Indian test skipper Ajinkya Rahane gets into the yard.
Cummins in his nest over dismissed Pujara while scoring 17 runs. Pujara turns his back down so far in the Australia test match.
Drinks Break
Post the drinks break Hanuma Vihari join hands with Ajinkya Rahane. The duo expected to make a huge impact in the scoreboard. The deadly combination makes Aussies bowlers to struggle and made steady innings.
Lunch Break
Post the lunch break the duo lead India to score beyond 100 runs in total for the same 23 Wickets loss. Vihari after a boundary of the Lyon’s over got dismissed for 21 runs. India gets in an uncomfortable position as they lose 4 wickets before even nearing Australia’s 1st innings score.
Rishabh Pant is expected to make a huge impact for India in the 2nd Test. While making a steady partnership Starc in the 60th over dismissed Pant and loads pressure over India as they scored only 173 runs.
Losing 5 wickets before making a lead is really a drastic situation for India. Ravindra Jadeja the game-changing all-rounder gets into the yard and joins hands with the Indian skipper.
The skipper Rahane is in pressure to lead the innings with a massive partnership by joining hands with Jadeja. As expected the deadly combination starts to work for India.
By the mid of the 66th over India starts to lead the innings with a 5 wickets loss. Rahane with his steady innings registered his 12th overall century and his 2nd against Australia.
Stumps
While the match gets to move with interesting shots and unbelievable catch drops rain interrupted the play and stopped the match. As the rain continued umpired called for the day 2 stumps.
Watch Australia vs India 2nd Test Day 2 Highlights
Day 3
India Batting
Ravindra Jadeja and skipper Ajinkya Rahane continued the innings. India needs to set a good lead to defend Australia. While Australian bowlers seek to make some quick wickets in the 3rd day of the innings.
After a long struggle Aussies bowler, Lyon breaks the partnership by dismissing Rahane for 112 runs in an unwanted run out format.
Drinks Break
Ravindra Jadeja who secured his half-century continued the innings with Ravichandran Ashwin. In the second over of the post drinks break Starc dismissed Jadeja for 57 runs. Team India managed to score 326 runs for 10 wickets loss as India’s lower order fails to add some quality runs to the scoreboard.
Australia Batting
Wade and Burns get into the yard to lead Australia in the 2nd innings. Bumrah opens the attack on behalf of India. Team India needs to pick early wickets in order to restrict a massive run chase in the second innings.
Umesh Yadav in the 4th over of the innings dismissed Burna and makes the first blow for Australia. India should not settle until they wipe the whole Australian squad as Aussies’ lower-order batsmen too have some stuff to exhibit.
Drinks Break
Marnus Labuschagne poses threat to Indian bowlers. Ashwin with a slower delivery dismissed Labuschagne for 28 runs and makes a much-needed wicket.
Bumrah with a leg-stump trap dismissed Steve Smith. A major wicket for Australia. Steve though remains in the 1st Test batsman position fails to show up in the test matches so far.
Indian bowlers with their impressive bowling spell load pressure over the Australian batting unit. Jadeja makes a crucial wicket for India by dismissing Wade for 40 runs.
In a short period, Siraj dismissed Head for 17 runs and Jadeja again makes an impact by dismissing Aussies skipper Tim Pains for 1 run. Where Australia loses their top 6 wickets before reaching 100 runs.
Stumps
At the end of the day 3 Australia scored 133 runs for 6 wickets loss where Cummins and Green stand in the crease.
Watch Australia vs India 2nd Test Day 3 Highlights
Day 4
Australia Batting
Pat Cummins and Cameron Green start the innings for Australia. Australian lower-order batsman as expected starts to make a steady inning. While Indian bowlers keen to makes the wickets which is a much-needed breakthrough for India to restrict a massive run chase.
Bumrah did the much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Cummins for 22 runs.
Drinks Break
Cameron Green join hands with Starc and starts to build a partnership. But soon Siraj dismissed Green while scoring 45 runs. The long stood batsman walks to Pavillion while Australia scored 177 runs.
Siraj soon in the 97th over dismissed Lyon for 3 runs. Ashwin took the last wicket of Australia by dismissing Hazlewood for 10 runs. Australia scored 200runs for 9 wickets loss in the second innings.
India Batting
India needs 70 runs to win the match. A low target for a team like India but never forget that India earlier windup for 36 runs in the 1st Test match against Australia.
Agarwal and Shubman Gill get into the crease to lead India. Starc opens the attack on behalf of Australia. Starc soon in the 5th over of the match makes the first blow for India by dismissing Mayank Agarwal for 5 runs.
The young player again failed to shoe up his worth and walks to Pavillion after scoring a single-digit run. In the followed over Cummins dismissed Pujara for 3 runs. And the pressure starts to build over India as they lose a couple of wickets in the very early stage of chasing.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Gill join hands and took the responsibility of leading India towards a decent victory. As expected the duo gradually reached the 0 runs target and registered the maiden win of the four-match test series.
Watch AUS vs IND 2nd Test Day 4 Highlights
Player of the match
Ajinkya Rahane
Australia vs India 2nd Test Scoreboard
| Australia |
195/10(1st innings), 200/10(2nd innings)
|
| India | 326/10(1st innings), 70/2(2nd innings) |
India won by 8 wickets
Australia vs India 2nd Test Scorecard
Australia 1st Innings Scorecard
| Batsman | Runs | BF | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Joe Burns | c Pant b Bumrah | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matthew Wade | c Ravindra Jadeja b Ashwin | 30 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 76.92 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | c Shubman Gill b Siraj | 48 | 132 | 4 | 0 | 36.36 |
| Steven Smith | c Pujara b Ashwin | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Travis Head | c Rahane b Bumrah | 38 | 92 | 4 | 0 | 41.30 |
| Cameron Green | lbw b Siraj | 12 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Tim Paine (c) (wk) | c Hanuma Vihari b Ashwin | 13 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 34.21 |
| Pat Cummins | c Siraj b Ravindra Jadeja | 9 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 27.27 |
| Mitchell Starc | c Siraj b Bumrah | 7 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 87.50 |
| Nathan Lyon | lbw b Bumrah | 20 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 117.65 |
| Josh Hazlewood | not out | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 400.00 |
| Extras | 14 (b 10, lb 0, w 1, nb 3, p 0) | |||||
India 1st innings Scorecard
| Batsman | Runs | BF | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Mayank Agarwal | Mayank Agarwal | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shubman Gill | c Paine b Cummins | 45 | 65 | 8 | 0 | 69.23 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | c Paine b Cummins | 17 | 70 | 1 | 0 | 24.29 |
| Ajinkya Rahane (c) | run out (Labuschagne/Paine) | 112 | 223 | 12 | 0 | 50.22 |
| Hanuma Vihari | c Steven Smith b Lyon | 21 | 66 | 2 | 0 | 31.82 |
| Rishabh Pant (wk) | c Paine b Starc | 29 | 40 | 3 | 0 | 72.50 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | c Cummins b Starc | 57 | 159 | 3 | 0 | 35.85 |
| Ashwin | c Lyon b Hazlewood | 14 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Umesh | c Steven Smith b Lyon | 9 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 47.37 |
| Bumrah | c Head b Lyon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Siraj | not out | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Extras | 22 (b 12, lb 6, w 2, nb 2, p 0) | |||||
Australia 2nd Innings Scorecard
| Batsman | Runs | BF | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Matthew Wade | lbw b Ravindra Jadeja | 40 | 137 | 3 | 0 | 29.20 |
| Burns | c Pant b Umesh | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | c Rahane b Ashwin | 28 | 49 | 1 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Steven Smith | b Bumrah | 8 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 26.67 |
| Travis Head | c Mayank Agarwal b Siraj | 17 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 36.96 |
| Cameron Green | c Ravindra Jadeja b Siraj | 45 | 146 | 5 | 0 | 30.82 |
| Tim Paine (c) (wk) | c Pant b Ravindra Jadeja | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 11.11 |
| Pat Cummins | c Mayank Agarwal b Bumrah | 22 | 103 | 1 | 0 | 21.36 |
| Mitchell Starc | not out | 14 | 56 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Nathan Lyon | c Pant b Siraj | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Josh Hazlewood | b Ashwin | 10 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 47.62 |
| Extras | 8 (b 0, lb 5, w 0, nb 3, p 0) | |||||
India 2nd innings Scorecard
| Batsman | Runs | BF | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Mayank Agarwal | c Paine b Starc | 5 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Shubman Gill | not out | 35 | 36 | 7 | 0 | 97.22 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | c Green b Cummins | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Ajinkya Rahane (c) | not out | 27 | 40 | 3 | 0 | 67.50 |
| Extras | 0 (b 0, lb 0, w 0, nb 0, p 0) | |||||
