With a priceless 114-run eighth-wicket partnership, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin put the hosts on an even keel against Australia on a thriller second day of the second Test on Saturday. The Indian team was able to score only 262 runs in the first innings.
In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy game at Delhi, Axar's scored 74 runs off 115 balls and Ashwin scored 37 off 71 balls to recover Team India who were in a complete mess at 139/7. The men in blue ended their first innings at 262 in 83.3 overs, just one run behind the Aussies.
At stumps, Australia were 61/1 in their second innings, taking a lead of 62 runs. Travis Head (39 batting), opening in the place of David Warner, and Marnus Labuschagne (16 batting) attacked the Indian bowlers and picked up a handful of boundaries.
Most top-order India batters were dismissed leg-before on the front foot except skipper Rohit Sharma who was bowled out. However, Axar and Ashwin came to their team's rescue and counter-attacked the bowlers despite the fall of seven wickets.
Instead of plonking the front-foot forward, they used the pace of the deliveries from Todd Murphy (2/53 in 18 overs) and debutant left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann (2/72 in 21.3 overs), to hit runs.
Axar got his second consecutive fifty in the series. Ashwin too was determined at the other end and did not let go of the scoring opportunities.
In India's innings, one incident which caught attention was Virat Kohli's controversial dismissal. Kohli who played with a lot of composure and almost scored a fifty had to head back due to an umpire's call. Kuhnemann's arm ball seemed to be brushing the leg bail but there was no conclusive evidence on whether the ball hit the pad first or the bat.
The Kangaroos will come out to bat with a lead of 62 runs on the third day of the match which will be played on February 19.
Squads
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann
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