India fought back in the post tea session to finish the second day at 172/3 with skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane batting at 82* and 51* respectively. Earlier in the day, Indian bowlers were quick enough to clean up the Australian tail and dismiss them at 326 runs.
Lot was dependent on India’s batting to deliver on the dangerous looking greentop of Western Australian cricket ground in Perth which is a heaven for the pacers. Out of form Murali Vijay and KL Rahul walked out to the crease but looked unconscious from the very first ball itself. Vijay’s(0 of 12 balls) determination was finally broken by a in-swinger by Mitchell Starc which cleaned up his wickets. KL Rahul continued his bad patch and was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood(1/50) at 2.
Struggling at 8/2, skipper Virat Kohli and Mr. dependable Cheteshwar Pujara came to the crease and played patience game against the charged up Australian bowlers. Both the batsman added 74 runs for the partnership before Pujara edged one past to Tim Paine on Mitchell Starc’s bowling(2/42).
Vice captain Ajinkya Rahane joined Virat Kohli in the centre and the duo have allready added 90 runs for the 4th wicket partnership and will look to take the Indian total close to 300 tomorrow.
What Australia could have done better
Pat Cummins looked lethal upfront but he was not able to bag any wicket. Indian bowlers did a mistake of bowling short that gave ample opportunity to the batsman to score. The same mistake was repeated by the Australian pacers, who could have exploited the conditions if they bowled on good length.
