First time in 20 years! India and Australia create history in Boxing Day Test at MCG
IND vs AUS: India and Australia are currently facing each other in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. At the end of Day 2, the hosts are on top having reduced India to 164/5 after posting 474 runs on the board.
Australia asserted their dominance by the end of the second day's play of the ongoing Boxing Day Test against India at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The two teams are playing against each other at the MCG but have created history together. For the first time since the 2003-04 season, more than 300 runs have been scored in each of the first two days in Melbourne.
The 2003-04 Boxing Day Test was also played between India and Australia and the hosts had won that clash by nine wickets. Virender Sehwag smashed 195 runs then in the first innings with India posting 366 runs in their first innings. He was the main reason alongside Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting for teams to accumulate more than 300 runs in each of the first two days of play.
Coming back to the ongoing Test match, Australia posted 311 runs for the loss of six wickets on the opening day. They added 163 more runs on the second day to finish on 474 runs before getting bowled out. In response, India scored 164 runs by the end of day two making it a total of 327 runs.
300+ runs on each of the first two day's play at MCG
- Aus vs SA 1910/11
- Aus vs Eng 1924/25
- Aus vs Ind 2003/04
- Aus vs Ind 2024/25
Melbourne is known to be a tough venue for the batters to score runs but the surface on offer in this Test match has been fairly on the slower side. Australia enjoyed serene batting conditions after winning the toss and on the back of Steve Smith's 140-run knock. In response, India were also in a brilliant position at 153/2 before the visitors lost the plot losing three wickets for just six runs in 21 balls.
India finished the day at 164/5 with Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja in the middle. They are still 310 runs behind in the first innings and it will take a humongous effort for India to reduce the first innings deficit from here on.