The first day of the second game of India vs Australia Test series in Bengaluru began with a first ball four but with the day end, certain glimpses from Pune appeared again. India after winning the toss elected to bat first while the opening pair looked totally new today as with KL Rahul it was Abhinav Mukund who made his comeback in the test format after six long years. Rahul did a ‘Sehwag’ in the very first ball and smashed a classic cover drive which went for four. Rahul carried forward his form and kept on playing from the front but unluckily, there was no one else from the team who could support him from the other end.
In the second over it was the new man who took the strike and looked completely struggling against Josh Hazlewood. Abhinav’s inning couldn’t last long and in the 3rd over he was dismissed by Mitch Starc for a golden duck. Cheteshwar Pujara had a controlled start and a calculated pace of batting. But in the second last ball of the 28th over, spinner Nathan Lyon turned the ball which bounced and took an edge of Pujara’s bat and landed in the safe hands of Peter Handscomb.
Ater lunch, Rahul resumed his batting at a score of 48 and continuing his playing style, Rahul hit the 3rd Test fifty of his career. He nudged the ball towards square leg for a single and the crowd lets out a loud cheer as Rahul reached his FIFTY.
But captain Kohli couldn’t live up to the hopes of the spectators and fans as once again he thought to leave the ball but the ball turned and kissed his pads and finally he was given out. Kohli could score 12 runs before Nathan Lyon dismissed him.
Ajinkya Rahane came in at number 5 and gave his best company to KL Rahul who was continuously pushing himself to take this voyage far away. Rahane came down the wicket trying to hit the ball over the bowler’s head but failed miserably and missed the ball altogether. Wade fumbled at first but got rid of the bails before Rahane could recover.
Aussie spin twins leave India stumped before tea: https://t.co/5lqxy2DfLr #INDvAUS
— cricket.com.au Video (@CricketVideo) March 4, 2017
Later, it seemed that Nair has revised the previous lessons and now he is implementing his plan to boost the progress rate. Some phenomenal shots came off his bat which sent the ball out of the boundary. After scoring 26 runs off 39 balls, Karun Nair was gulped by the destructor of last game, Steve O’Keefe.
The third session was a total rampage for the leftover batsmen as KL Rahul could only survive the Aussie typhoon yet another time but at the other end, the batsmen came and went back. Struggling massively throughout in the previous sessions, unfortunately, Rahul was dismissed by Nathan Lyon and he missed his century by 1o runs. The tail enders, including Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav, failed to do something saviour and the entire team was bundled within 189 runs in 71.2 overs.
One again an Aussie spinner punctured the entire batting line up in the first day itself and this time it was Nathan Lyon. Lyon dismissed 8 Indian scalps – KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha- and had best bowling figures against India being an overseas player and highest wicket taker from Australia against India. Till date, Nathan Lyon has grabbed 55 wickets against India leaving behind Shane Warne, Peter Siddle and Brett Lee.
Records tumble as Lyon claims amazing haul of 8-50 on day one: https://t.co/nYxs2clp3M #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/q2ptc2zOOJ
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) March 4, 2017
With one hour left for the day’s play to end, Australia came in to bat where David Warner and Matthew Renshaw opened the Aussie inning and the first days game concluded at Australia scoring 40 runs in 16 overs without a wicket loss. Warner – 23 (51), Renshaw – 15 (47).
