The Australian pace bowlers and Nathan Lyon whittled away at the batting unit with regular strikes, as India slid to a precarious 151 for 5 at stumps on day two in the World Test Championship (WTC) final played at the Oval. Australia currently have a substantial lead of 318 runs.
The Australian pace bowlers bowled with persistence, and also extracted more from The Oval deck than their Indian counterparts. Pat Cummins, the Australia skipper, led the way by winning an LBW decision against Rohit Sharma. Rohit paid the price for getting caught in the crease against a scrambled-seam delivery. Shubman Gill, who cracked an eye-catching pull in front of square on the on-side off Cummins, then shouldered arms to a nip-backer from Scott Boland and was cleaned up for just 13. It was a major error of judgment from India’s in-form batter, as it is a known fact that Boland generally moves the ball back into the right-hand batters.
After the tea break, Chesteshwar Pujara also made a costly mistake as he left a incoming delivery from Cameron Green and was castled for 14. Virat Kohli, who seemed to be getting into his groove, then fell to the thre-quarter-seam lifter from Mitchell Starc. Steven Smith also played a key role in that dismissal as he showed good reflexes to pouch the catch, high above his head, in the slip cordon. At that juncture, with India in deep trouble at 71 for 4, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja steadied the innings with a stand of 71 for the fifth wicket.
Jadeja played a couple of sumptuous flicks off Starc and Boland, while Rahane cracked a few fluent drives. Unfortunately, for India, right at the fag end of the day’s play, Jadeja edged one off Lyon to the lone slip fielder and was dismissed for a well-measured 48. The best part of Jadeja’s innings was his willingness to take advantage of any loose ball on offer. Rahane, who had a narrow escape in the 22nd over when he reviewed an LBW call and replays showed that Cummins had overstepped, then guided India to the close of play in the company of KS Bharat.
Australia found themselves in pole position on the back of splendid knocks from Travis Head (163 off 174 balls) and Steven Smith (121 off 268 deliveries). The two overnight batters had resumed on the second morning by looking to play with positive intent. Smith clipped two over-pitched deliveries off his pads to get to his 31st Test hundred, and ninth against India. Head too played with freedom, but it was also quite clear that India’s short-ball plan was troubling him.
Ultimately, it worked as Head gloved a short ball from Mohammed Siraj to Bharat behind the stumps. Siraj’s partner-in-crime, Mohammed Shami, then dislodged Green with a fuller delivery that was bowled in the one-square-foot window outside off. Green edged it to Gill in the slip cordon. Shardul Thakur followed that by inducing Smith to inside-edge one onto the stumps.
Starc also followed his teammates back to the pavilion on the back of a stunning piece of work from Axar Patel, that caught him well short of the crease at the non-striker’s end. Siraj, tireless and full of aggression throughout, mopped up the tail after Alex Carey had made a brisk 48 (69 balls. By then, however, Australia were well in the ascendancy. The bowlers merely reinforced it.
Brief scores: Australia 469 (Travis Head 163, Steve Smith 121; Mohammed Siraj 4-108) lead India 151/5 (Ravindra Jadeja 48; Nathan Lyon 1-4) by 318 runs