INDIA: The third morning of the second Test in the Border-Gavaskar Test series between India and Australia saw a dramatic collapse of the Australian team.
India vs Australia
After starting the day at 61/1 in their second innings, Australia crumbled to 113 all out in just 19.1 overs. Ravindra Jadeja returned with a career-best 7 for 42, and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up the other three wickets.
Australia had started their innings with attacking intent. Their aggressive approach backfired as they lost wickets in quick succession, with most of the batters falling to premeditated sweep and reverse sweep shots.
Even Steve Smith, who had targeted the straight boundary against Jadeja, attempted a sweep shot off Ashwin and was caught plumb in front of the stumps.
Marnus Labuschagne, who had looked assured until then, was dismissed by Jadeja after a delivery bounced low and managed to sneak below his bat and hit the stumps.
Australia went from 95/4 to 95/7 in just ten deliveries, with Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, and Pat Cummins falling to attempted sweeps. Alex Carey also fell while attempting a sweep shot, becoming Jadeja’s fifth wicket of the innings.
Nathan Lyon managed to stop the continuous fall of wickets for a while. However, Jadeja castled the Aussie spinner with a beautiful delivery.
Matthew Kuhnemann became Jadeja’s sixth victim after attempting a reverse sweep, making Jadeja the second spinner after Anil Kumble to take five bowled dismissals in an inning.
In the second session, India chased down the lowly target of 115, with KL Rahul falling to an unlucky dismissal before lunch. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer fell after lunch, raising the heartbeats in the Indian camp.
However, Australia couldn’t make further inroads, with Pujara and KS Bharat polishing off the remaining runs to take India to an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Also Read: IND vs AUS 2nd Test: Australia Takes Upper Hand after Indian Rear-guard Action
