How different two days can be? Ask India and Australia and they will tell you. Day 1 of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test saw excessive seam movement, and surviving was a very hard task. 217 runs were scored with 17 wickets falling. Cut to Day 2. 209 runs and only 3 wickets to fall.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul batted with absolute patience and grit on the second day of the Test, which had minimal seam movement, to take India into pole position in the game. The visitors ended the second day 172/0 and with a healthy lead of 218, sending Australia on the ropes in the hope of some magic. Jaiswal is only 10 short of his century, having made 90 from 193 balls. KL Rahul was also solid for his 62 from 152 deliveries.
The 172-run unbeaten stand between Jaiswal and Rahul is the first 100-run stand by an Indian opening pair in the last 20 years. The last Indian opening pair to notch up a century stand Down Under was Virender Sehwag and Akash Chopra's pair, which had put 123 for the first wicket in Sydney in the 2004 series.
Notably, this is also the first opening stand of over 150 runs by a visiting team since Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook had put 159 for the first wicket in 2010. It is the 150-run-plus stand outside Ashes since Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth's 191-run partnership in 1986. It was some day for India and they would look back at it proudly. But they would know there is still work to do if they have to win the series opener and go 1-0 up.
The Aussie bowlers looked to bowl with discipline and Josh Hazlewood was highly impressive with his line and lengths. But there was hardly anything on offer from the surface as it looked completely flat with the sun beating down. Rahul and Jaiswal batted with great patience and amassed 84 runs from 26 overs in the second session. The Aussies looked to dry the runs in the third session and were hugely successful in that but the two batters didn't throw away their wicket.
For the first hour of the third session, India scored 22 runs in 17 overs. After the drinks, they added 66 in 14 overs. India go back happy with a win in their sights.
Earlier, they had bowled the Aussies for 37 more runs to their overnight total of 67/7. Captain Jasprit Bumrah got Alex Carey caught behind to take his five-wicket haul before Harshit Rana sent Nathan Lyon packing. However, the last pair of Mitchell Starc and Hazlewood irritated the visitors a bit. They put up 25 runs to take the Aussies to 104 before Rana took the final wicket.
