Adelaide: Michael Clarke and Steven Smith gave a solid start to Australia innings despite regular rain delays on Day 2 leaving Indian bowlers struggling.
The play will now start 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and rest of the days of this first test i.e. at 5 am because of the loss of 60 overs today.
It would be interesting to know how long will the Australians bat tomorrow morning and what is the score they kept in mind. They might want to pile up a huge total and then put Indian batsmen under pressure with the pace of Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle. Thankfully the weather forecast for tomorrow is clear and brighter.
It's been only 30.4 overs today and Australia have hammered 163 runs since the rain break. Bowlers were butchered by Steven Smith and Michael Clarke through out the day. They lacked rhythm and penetration with the same old story petering out. Fielding was also a bit sloppy, dropping crucial catches and missing run out chances.
It has been a start-stop day, but Australia's moment was always on the upswing. Steve Smith and Michael Clarke scored hundreds each to flatten the Indian attack. Later on, both cut loose and powered the hosts past the 500-mark before Clarke departed, dragging a sweep to square leg off Karn.
STUMPS DAY 2
Michael Clarke not out 162 (131), Mitchell Johnson 0(4)
The umpires have decided to call stumps. The light seems to have deteriorated too much for play to continue it would seem.
Players are walking off the field again due to another weather interruption. This time bad light stops play but there is no declaration from the Australians yet.
Australia 517/7 after 120 overs
Batsmen survived couple of dropped catches before Pujara held Clarke at square leg. Ishant dropped a catch at backward square leg. Australia reached to the 500 run mark with a wild down the leg side delivery that went for 5 wides and keeper had no chance to collect that. However Kohli missed a difficult chance of catch at slips after Smith gets an ouside edge off Karn's flighted delivery outside leg.
Mitchell Johnson is the new man in
Australia 517/7
Michael Clarke c Pujara b Karn Sharma 128
OUT! Karn Sharma finally strikes and the skipper is gone. India gets a big breakthrough. Clarke goes for a sweep and has found Pujara at square leg. Adelaide stands up to appreciate their captain.
Australia 487/6 after 115 overs
Smith gets his 150 and continue to butcher Indian bowlers with Clarke today. Karn Sharma and Mohammad Shami resumed the play after a delay of about an hour. The good for them can only be that no boundaries have been scored in first five overs of the remaining 21 but singles are constantly coming.
Karn Sharma continues his spell.
Indian fielders are waming up which means Australia have not declared yet.
Play is set to be resumed. 21 overs are scheduled till stumps for the day 2.
The rain has stopped and the covers are being removed yet again.
Wonder if the play could resume today.
The rain is getting heavier and the bigger covers are coming on.
Match delayed by Rain
Australia 473/6 after 111 overs
Runs are still flowing for the Australians after Shami conceded three boundaries in an over before we had another interruption by the rain. Clarke and Smith walks off the ground with standing ovation by the crowd and the covers are back on. This is light drizzle but enough to stop the play for the time being. The declaration is now on the cards. Australia might declare anytime soon and let India bat in the remaining day if the rain stops.
The weather is still overcast and Australia would be looking to bowl in these conditions.
Australia 460/6 after 110 overs
Saha missed a stumping chance when Steven Smith was beaten flighted out side off delivery. A long break was just enough for Indian bowlers. Clarke and Smith continued to dominate the Indian bowlers taking the score past 450 with three boundaries off Varun Aaron's over. However there was a moment in 107th over when Smith hammered the ball in deep covers for a couple but the ball touched Ishant Sharm's hat after his dive. As per rules 5 runs must be awarded to the batting side but the umpires didn't bothered to have a look.
Australia 433/6 after 105 overs
Michael Clarke completes his 28th test hundred and this makes him emotional. He could not control his tears and his facial expressions clearly states that. He kissed his helmet and looked into the sky dedicating his century for his little brother Phil Hughes. Now both the batsmen in crease have centuries in their account.
Steven Smith takes the guard and Vijay continues to bowl.
The play is set to resume in few minutes.
Umpires are out in the field for the inspection and the main cover off the pitch is also pulled off.
Rain has stopped! The ground staff are being cheered as they enter the field to remove the covers. However, there is plenty of water logged on the ground and it may take a while for the groundsmen to clear it.
Due to the overs lost today, play will start at 5 am according to Indian timings tomorrow which is half an hour earlier than the schedule start.
Match delayed by Rain
Australia 423/6 after 103.3 overs
And we have a rain delay again! This time Clarke is on 98 and his wife is not at all happy as she has her hands on her head. It is quite heavy at the moment. The 11 balls that were bowled were enough for Smith to bring up his 5th Test hundred. Murali Vijay could bowl only 3 deliveries before the rain arrived.
Clarke takes a single for the 408th run of Australian innings and what an applaud by the crowd. He entered his 90s with a brilliant boundary dancing down the ground. Karn Sharma leaked 14 runs in his first over after the lunch.
Australia 407/6 after 102 overs
Steven Smith gets his 5th test hundred. He takes off his helmet and walks upto the 408 painted on the ground. He points his bat towards it signalling it is for his teammate Hughes.
Steven Smith takes guard and Varun Aaron gets ready to bowl.
Covers are off again and the play is set to resume.
The players are coming onto the field but the rain started again and the covers are back on! Everybody is walking off again and the delay continues. Though it is not a heavy shower but enough to keep the start delayed.
The rain has stopped, the covers are off and the groundstaff are going around the outfield with a rope. The action will begin shortly
LUNCH BREAK
The covers are coming off but the umpires have called for an early lunch. The play will resume after the lunch break.
Poor stuff from India this morning. They couldn't continue the same momentum which they had yesterday. Bowlers failed to impose any pressure on the batsmen and Australia reached 405 in no time.
Match delayed by Rain
Australia 405/6 after 101.4 overs
Rain has now started coming down heavily and the umpires called for the covers straight away just after Aaron was smashed for boundary by Smith. Players are going off the field with Steven Smith unbeaten on 98 and Clarke on 85
Australia 400/6 after 100 overs
46 runs have been scored in first 10 overs of the day. Smith entered into the 90s with a well timed flick to fine leg for a boundary of Aaron. Karn Sharma didn't had the promising start as well while Ishant and Varun Aaron are having control on both the batsmen on the crease. Clarke finished the 100th over with a perfect cut stroke to bring up the 400 for Australia. Meanwhile drizzle have started again and the floodlights are on. Umpires had a discussion whether they should continue or not.
Australia 382/6 after 95 overs
Ishant and Shami didn't had the start they wanted for the day. They bowled couple of bouncers to trouble the batsmen but it didn't worked. India had a poor start of the day with no control over the line length and regluar short and wide outside off deliveries are making it easy for the batsmen to score early runs easily.
Shami gets ready to continue his remaining over.
Umpires and players are on the field now. Overnight batsmen Steven Smith is out there in the middle with Michael Clarke.
There is a minor delay in the start of today's play. Rollers are out on the ground and it will take about 10 minutes to resume the game.
There was slight drizzle just before the start of the play but the play will start on its scheduled time.
Update: Clarke had some improvement overnight and he's feeling a bit better today. He was quite ginger this morning but he is very determined to bat.
The opening day of the first test was dominated by the Australian batsmen but in the latter Indian bowlers made a slight comeback into the game after losing the first two sessions. The hosts lost four wickets in the evening session with Michael Clarke again struggling from his hamstring injury.
He was retired hurt at the score of 60 and if he is not able to play today, then Indian bowlers will need just 3 wickets to end the Aussie innings. India would have been lifted by the wickets of Haddin, Lyon and Marsh before stumps on day 1, but the Aussies are still in the ascendancy at 354/6 and with Steve Smith unbeaten on 72.
Indians would be looking to bowl out Australia in the opening session and look to bat for two sessions of the day. The conditions would not change much as it continues to be a batting track.
With 354 runs on the board though, and Steven Smith batting very fluently, Australia might just need one hour of a counterpunch to take the lead in this Test again.
