India Takes The Lead On Day Two of IND vs AUS 5th Test: Day Two of the fifth and final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match was certainly a fine day of cricket. Over 300 runs were scored and 15 wickets were taken on the second day of the fifth Australia vs India Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
India Takes The Lead On Day Two of IND vs AUS 5th Test
On Day One, India was bowled out for 185. And then, in the three overs India bowled, they dismissed Usman Khawaja. Day Two started with Australia at 9/1.
Soon after the day’s play started, Marnus Labuschagne became Jasprit Bumrah’s second wicket. Then, even before 10 overs were bowled on the day, Mohammed Siraj dismissed Sam Konstas and Travis Head in the same over as the Aussies fell to 39/4.
But then, Steve Smith took charge of the inning alongside debutant all-rounder Beau Webster. The two men nearly took Australia past the 100-run mark. But right before that happened, Smith became Prasidh Krishna’s first wicket of this series.
Alex Carey then supported Beau while the debutant went on to score a fine 50. When Carey was dismissed, the Australian Cricket Team was at 137/6 and looked like they would take the lead in the first inning. At this time, captain and ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah had left the field and even the stadium to get some medical attention.
Check Out: India Takes 145 Run Lead On Day Two 5th BGT Test
But then, Nitish Kumar Reddy fell upon the Australian lower-batting order like a sledgehammer. Within two overs, he dismissed captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, both of whom could be dangerous in the lower order. Then, right before Australia could match India’s first-inning total, they were bowled out for 181, trailing by four runs.
India then came out to bat with a pep in their step. Openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal looked in good touch in the early proceedings, putting together a 42-run partnership before Rahul departed as he got bowled by Scott Boland. Jaiswal was bowled by Boland soon after.
Within minutes of the Indian Cricket Team losing its openers, it lost its most high-profile batter, Virat Kohli, who got dismissed in the same exact manner as every other time in this series, edging a ball in the line of the 5th/6th stump and getting caught behind.
This left Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant on the pitch, but Gill departed soon after as India fell to 78/4. But this was the point where the Rishabh Pant show became the central attraction of this game. When Pant first came to strike after Kohli’s dismissal, he hit an in-form Boland for a six on his first ball.
And that is the attitude he kept up throughout his short but impactful inning. With six ‘4s’ and four ‘6s’ in the inning, Pant scored a half-century in just 29 deliveries, which is the second-fastest by an Indian in Test cricket. The fastest Test 50 by an Indian is also by Pant, who scored one in 28 balls against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru in 2022.
Check Out: India Takes The Lead On Day Two of IND vs AUS 5th BGT Test
Rishabh was criticised for his poor shot selection and for not being able to play according to the situation throughout this series. In the first inning of the fourth Test in Melbourne, Sunil Gavaskar infamously broke out into a rant following Pant’s dismissal, calling it stupid. This resulted in him slowing the pace down and defending a lot in the last couple of innings.
But today, Rishabh Pant looked mostly in control of his attacking shots, finding empty pockets in the ground and scoring boundaries. By the time he got out after scoring 61 off 33, India was at 124/5.
Nitish Kumar Reddy failed for the second time with the bat in this match, but Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar took India to 141/6 at the end of the day’s play as India led the game by 145 runs at the end of Day Two.
While players like Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj, and Jasprit Bumrah could stake a claim of being the best player of the day, today’s game belonged to Scott Boland, who bowled with great figures of 4/42 in 13 overs and crippled the Indian top order.
With it looking like there is only one day left in this match and hence, this series, tomorrow will be the most important day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. While Australia is in a 2-1 lead in this series because India won the previous edition of this series, the winner of this India vs Australia match will take the trophy home.
Check Out: India Takes 145 Run Lead On Day Two 5th BGT Test
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