Khawaja and Green took Australia to 480 runs, India 36 runs without losing wickets
Usman Khawaja missed out on a double hundred but his 208-run stand with maiden international century-scorer Cameron Green helped Australia post 480 in the first innings on the second day of the fourth and final Test against India. India then made a cautious start scoring 36 runs in 10 overs without losing a wicket. At the end of the day’s play, Shubman Gill was playing for 18 runs while captain Rohit Sharma was playing for 17 runs. The Indian team is 444 runs behind Australia’s 480 runs in the first innings with all 10 wickets remaining.
Tomorrow, the third day is going to be very important in terms of India’s chances in the match. Earlier, Khawaja scored an inning of 180 runs in 422 balls with the help of 21 fours. He put on 208 for the fifth wicket with Green, who missed the first two Tests due to finger surgery, scoring 114 off 170 balls with 18 fours. Todd Murphy (41) and Nathan Lyon (34) added 70 runs for the ninth wicket to add to India’s woes. This is Murphy’s top score in first-class cricket.
For India, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (6 for 91) took five or more wickets in an innings for the 32nd time in his career. Mohammed Shami took two wickets for 134 runs. Umesh Yadav disappointed. He spent 105 runs in 25 overs but did not get any wicket. Ravindra Jadeja (1/89) and Akshar Patel (1/47) picked up one wicket each.
After the Indian bowlers failed to pick up wickets in the first session of the day, Ashwin took three wickets in the second session and two wickets in the third session to wrap up Australia’s innings. In the second session, Australia’s team could only score 62 runs and lost three wickets in the meantime. Green completed the first international century of his career in 143 balls by sending Jadeja’s ball for four runs from cover point.
Green, however, after completing his century, was caught by wicketkeeper Shrikar Bharat in an attempt to play the ball going out of the leg side of Ashwin. Waiting for his innings by tying pads for almost 60 overs, Alex Carey (00) was caught by Akshar Patel at short third man in Ashwin’s attempt to play a big shot in the same over. Mitchell Starc also returned to the pavilion after scoring six runs, catching Shreyas Iyer off Ashwin.
Khawaja and Leone, however, did not let the team suffer further setbacks till tea. On the first ball after tea, Akshar broke Khawaja’s dream of scoring his first double century by lbw. The on-field umpire declared Khawaja not out but DRS showed that the ball was hitting the wickets and the umpire had to change his decision. Khawaja’s innings is the third best individual innings by an Australian batsman in India.
The Indian bowlers were expected to take the last two wickets quickly but Lyon and Murphy frustrated them. Both stayed at the crease for more than 19 overs. When India took the third new ball, Lyon hit three fours in Shami’s over. Ashwin finally broke the partnership by lbw to Murphy and took his fifth wicket of the innings. He ended Australia’s innings in his next over by getting Lyon caught by Virat Kohli in the slips. Earlier, Australia started the day with 255 runs for four wickets. The team added 92 runs in the morning session.
Indian bowlers struggled to get wickets in the morning session on a pitch that has been favorable for batting so far. Khawaja and Green were successful in dominating the Indian bowlers. After conceding a lot of runs with the second new ball in the dying moments of the first day’s play, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma preferred to restrict runs in the morning session. To stop the boundary, he applied deep point, deep square leg and deep fine leg. Khawaja and Green, however, did not have much trouble in scoring runs. Against Umesh, the batsmen easily scored runs for the second consecutive day. Green hit three fours in one of his overs, while Shami hit two fours in the last over before lunch. Meanwhile, Khawaja completed 150 runs in 346 balls with fours on Shami.
