Australia vs India 2018: 2nd Test Match, Perth, Day 2 - Report

India’s captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane came up with solid batting performance to keep India in the hunt in the ongoing Perth Test. Kohli finished the day with unbeaten 82 runs and Rahane scored a fluent knock of 51 runs to get back India into the contest. The visitors had a stuttering start when they lost their out-form openers, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, cheaply.

Meanwhile, the tourists were able to skittle out Australia for 326. Pat Cummins and Tim Paine looked solid in the first hour of play. However, the Indian bowlers bounced back in style as they scalped the remaining four wickets for only 16 runs. Consequently, Australia added 49 runs to their overnight score of 277 runs.

Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli come up with their best.

On the other hand, India’s most experienced seamer Ishant Sharma scalped four wickets whereas Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Hanuma Vihari bagged two wickets each. However, Mohammed Shami who bowled well on the opening day went wicketless.

Australia had a perfect start when Mitchell Starc castled Murali Vijay with an incoming delivery. Starc found the gulf between Vijay’s bat and pad to give Australia their first breakthrough at the stroke of lunch.

The hosts began the second session on a high when Josh Hazlewood bamboozled KL Rahul with a fine yorker. The Australian deputy got the ball to move away to beat Rahul’s defence.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was India’s hero in the first Test match didn’t have the rub of the green on his side. Pujara had done the hard work as he faced 103 balls but Starc was successful in producing a faint edge of Pujara’s bat with an inncuous delivery towards the leg side.

Australian bowlers had to toil hard.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli came to the crease with an aggressive attitude. Kohli batted at the top of his game as he took out the best shots from his closet. The Indian captain then lowered down the gear and batted with a cautious approach. However, Kohli had to give an acid test to fiery spell from Pat Cummins. The Aussie pacer tested the talisman with the fifth stump line and had Kohli in a muddle on a few occasions.

Furthermore, Ajinkya Rahane began his innings in the topmost gear. The Australian pacers threw down the gauntlet of bouncers to Rahane and the right-hander embraced the challenge with both hands.

Rahane adopted a ferocious approach as he went for anything that was in his arch. Subsequently, the Indian vice-captain came up with a sedate approach after settling into his groove.

In fact, both Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane came up with an exhibition of delightful shots as both of them played with a straight bat. Consequently, India finds themselves in the game after a fine partnership between Rahane and Kohli as both of them have added 87 runs for the fourth wicket. The tourists scored 102 runs in the final session and lost a solitary wicket.

Brief Scores: India: 172-3, Virat Kohli: 82*, Ajinkya Rahane: 51*.

India trail by 154 runs.