WTC Final Day 2 IND VS AUS: Rahane stays in front of Australia’s deadly bowling; India 151/5 on the second day

On the first day the batsmen troubled and on the second day the bowlers wreaked havoc. After being beaten on the first day of the final of the World Test Championship at The Oval, the situation of Team India in front of Australia worsened even more on the second day. Australia’s deadly fast bowlers brought the fierce batsmen of Team India to their knees. Fighting innings of Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane raised some hopes of survival but still Team India is 119 runs short of saving the follow on.

Even in the final played in Southampton two years ago, India’s top-order batsmen were extremely disappointed. The same situation prevailed for the Indian batsmen in front of Australia as well. After stopping Australia for 469 runs, Team India had scored only 151 runs by the end of the second day while its 5 wickets fell. India is still 318 runs behind Australia. Ajinkya Rahane and KS Bharat will lead the innings on the third day.

Top order failed again

The Australian pacers did not repeat the mistake made by the Indian bowlers on the first day. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins started the attack with short balls, first trapped the Indian batsmen and then took wickets by getting the required swing on long balls. Similarly, Rohit Sharma (15) was dismissed LBW by Pat Cummins.

At the same time, Shubman Gill (13) and Cheteshwar Pujara (14) failed to understand their off stump. Both got bowled in the process of leaving the ball outside the off-stump.

Gill was walked by Scott Boland while Pujara was caught by Cameron Green in this way and returned the pavilion. Virat Kohli (14), who arrived in this match with excellent form, looked very set but Steve Smith took a strong catch in the slip on a deadly ball that suddenly arose from Stark’s good length.

Jadeja-Rahane handled

Team India had lost 4 wickets only for 71 runs. The situation was difficult but Ravindra Jadeja counter-attacked in the third session and was well supported by Ajinkya Rahane, who returned to the team after about one and a half years. Both were almost successful in saving the team till the end of the day. Then Jadeja (48) was dismissed in the slip by off-spinner Nathan Lyon. There was a partnership of 71 runs between Jadeja and Rahane.

Smith’s tremendous century

Before this poor performance of the batsmen, at the beginning of the day, the bowlers improved their performance to some extent and prevented Australia from scoring a bigger score. Pat Cummins’s team, which scored 327 for 3 wickets on the first day, added 152 runs on the second day and lost the remaining 7 wickets. However, the day started with Steve Smith’s 31st century. Smith completed the century in the first over of the day with 2 consecutive fours.

Siraj made a comeback

On the other hand, Travis Head (163) continued his explosive style and collected some boundaries. Mohammad Siraj broke this partnership by dismissing the head. Soon Mohammed Shami also took the wicket of Cameron Green. At the same time, Shardul Thakur was needed to end the strong innings of Steve Smith (121), whose trying to cut the ball, Smith sat on his own stumps.

In the second session, Alex Carey (48) was proving to be a disaster for India and was taking Australia towards 500 runs. Ravindra Jadeja failed this attempt by dismissing him LBW. After this, Siraj took the remaining two wickets and stopped Australia at 469. Siraj took maximum 4 wickets for India.