Jadeja helps hosts fight, Oz nose ahead
PROMISING Shaun Marsh, Matt Renshaw score fifties to help Australia take lead
BANGALORE: It was India’s biggest day in the Test series against Australia, and at the end of it on Sunday, the home team’s bowlers can look back at their lion-hearted effort that ensured the opposition did not run away with the second Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Australia may hold the patent for moving the game forward all the time, but Steven Smith’s side has surprised India by tweaking that concept by showing aggression with ball and patience with the bat.
Caught out by the Aussies’ team plans after their third straight batting failure against spin --- dismissed for 189 by Nathan Lyon’s record 8/50 --- India’s bowling fightback was led by the under-bowled spinner Ravindra Jadeja’s three important scalps.
The visitors were 237/6 at stumps, taking a lead of 48 runs with Mathew Wade (25) and Mitchell Starc (14), who hurt India with a cameo in the Pune Test defeat, keeping alive Australia’s hopes of pushing the innings to dent India’s hopes of making it a second innings battle.
Matt Renshaw may be only 20 and playing in his sixth Test, but showed the patience of a seasoned campaigner. The opener’s 60, batting for almost four-and-half hours, and Shaun Marsh’s 66 kept Australia just ahead at the close.
India will take heart from restricting Australia to 197 runs from 90 overs. But for more pain with the DRS use --- all three reviews were turned down with India exhausting the chance to use technology in this innings --and continued poor catching --skipper Virat Kohli dropped Matt Renshaw on 29 and Wriddhiman Saha put down Starc on 0 to make it three misses --- India may well have started the second innings.
TALE OF TWO SPINNERS
Nathan Lyon said dipping into Ravichandran Ashwin’s bag of tricks has helped, but the returns for India’s world No 1 bowler was in stark contrast as he didn’t find success after bowling David Warner (33) in the morning.
He toiled for 35 overs, but the rough that Lyon cashed in on was outside leg-stump for the Aussie left-handers, and there was Warner, Renshaw, Shaun Marsh and Mathew Wade.
The job was made tougher as Ashwin mostly bowled from over the wicket.
India kept Australia’s scoring to 47 runs in the morning, and 76 in the afternoon.
Virat brought on Jadeja late in the morning, and in the third over of his spell, Smith was caught off bat-pad by Saha. But he was surprisingly taken off the attack.
PACERS DISCIPLINED
Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav ran in hard and bowled fast, checking the scoring.
But Umesh saw Renshaw put down on 29 as Virat didn’t quickly reach in front at slip to take the nick.
Jadeja came back on and got Renshaw, who was opening up, stumped down the leg side. Given a longer spell, he also got Peter Handscomb, like Renshaw a beneficiary of the team reshuffle done post the home series defeat to South Africa late last year.
Ishant was finally rewarded when he trapped Mitch Marsh (0) leg before at tea, and Umesh had brother Shaun caught at midwicket after the interval.
But India took just that one wicket in a final session after Starc was put down by Saha off Umesh and the DRS misery.
Australia’s reorganised batting approach versus India’s sustained bowling effort made it an engrossing Sunday. How, Indian batsmen find a way out of their current slump is likely to decide Day 3 and the match.
ISHANT WAS FINALLY REWARDED WHEN HE TRAPPED MITCH MARSH (0) LEG BEFORE AT TEA, AND UMESH HAD BROTHER SHAUN CAUGHT AT MIDWICKET AFTER THE INTERVAL.