PUJARA, VIJAY GIVE AUSSIES A HIDING
If the first day was about sizing up the Aussies, the second was about cutting them to size. The wayward and weary visitors wilted under terrific tons from Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara as the Indians threw their weight around the ring to leave Clarke and Co. punch drunk in the second Test here.
The Sunday crowd of 30,176 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium feasted on runs as the Indian batsmen drove, pulled and cut to leave the opposition bleeding. At 311/ 1, a lead of 74 with nine wickets in hand, the hosts have the kangaroos on the run.
Vijay and Pujara crafted their innings brilliantly, biding their time before gradually tightening the noose around the Aussies. Slow death.
Pujara and Vijay were unbeaten on 162 ( 251 balls, 25x4, 1x6) and 129 ( 288 balls, 17x4, 2x6) respectively as India scored 306 runs in the day and lost the lone wicket of Virender Sehwag for a lowly 6. The opener was caught unawares by a Peter Siddle snorter — he edged to wicketkeeper Wade while trying to fend off the rising delivery. With 163 runs in his last nine innings at an average of 18.11, Sehwag’s place in the national team appears shaky.
Vijay and Pujara then played sensibly as tearaway quick Pattinson tried to soften them up with a few fast and furious deliveries directed at their bodies. The Indians dodged as they kept their cool in their bid to consolidate. The fifth boundary of the innings, coming after a gap of 107 deliveries, was evidence of their application during the testing period as the two put their heads down. The first session yielded just 49 runs in 27 overs at 1.81- an- over. Between lunch and tea Vijay and Pujara added 106 runs at a fast clip of 3.21 per over. The third period of play was the most fruitful as 151 runs were scored at 5.03.
Vijay has spent almost six- and- a- half hours in the middle so far while Pujara has been at the crease for 338 minutes, efforts that speak volumes about their tenacity. Their unbroken 294- run stand is the third best second- wicket partnership for India behind 344 by Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar against England at Kolkata in 1978 and 314 by Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid vs England at Mohali in 2008.
Such was the Indian dominance that barring an attempted run out that was referred to the third umpire and a sharp edge off Pujara’s bat that hit Wade’s pads and flew over Clarke at slip in the second last over of the day, the Aussies did not come anywhere close to taking a second wicket.
Captain Clarke shuffled his bowling deck repeatedly but could not find the elusive ace he desperately needed. The new ball, taken promptly after 80 overs, too did not help. The joke was on his beleaguered team.
On the other side, Pujara paced his innings to perfection. After a sedate start, the Saurashtra batsman stepped on the accelerator. A glide over gully, a copybook cover drive and another guide through the gully region brought three boundaries in the fifth over after lunch bowled by Pattinson. The scoreboard had begun to tick.
A little later, Vijay brought up his half- century with a thunderous shot, a lofted six off Doherty. He had carefully negotiated 140 balls before exploding into that one. Pujara reached his second Test fifty, with a thumping drive off Glenn Maxwell that crashed into the cover boundary.
Fast forward. The score was now rolling with the ball being frequently despatched to the boundary. Pujara was the first to get to his century, by playing Maxwell towards the third man region for a brace. It was his second successive ton at this ground following his 159 against New Zealand in the Test played in August last year.
Vijay reached his century in style, lofting Doherty over extra cover for a boundary as the stadium erupted in applause.