Australia vs India 2nd Test: India thrashed Australia by 8 wickets at MCG.
Australia vs India 2nd Test: After an embarrassing defeat at Adelaide last week, India made a strong comeback to cover the past feat. Ajinkya Rahane led India thrashed mighty Australia by 8 wickets at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
India was right under control from the start of the game, brilliant bowling supplemented with prominent batting.
Earlier Australia won the toss on Day 1 and opted to bat.
Australia 1st innings:
Indian bowlers put Australia under pressure right from the start of the innings. Bumrah picked Joe Burns for a duck in the first innings while Ashwin from another end picked Matthew Wade and Steve Smith in quick succession.
Marnus Labuschagne could not convert his start to a good score as he departed on 48 off debutant Mohammad Siraj.
India restricted Australia to 195 runs on Day1.
The visitors also could not get a good start as Mayank Agarwal departed for a duck and the opening crises for India continue. However, another debutant Shubman Gill showed good intent and put India to a flying score.
The stand-in Skipper Ajinkya Rahane scored a well crafted century and took India to a good lead. Along with Rahane his scoring partner Ravindra Jadeja also scored a half-century to put India to a driving seat.
After a good scoring India gave a total of 326 for 10 in the first test.
The third innings of the second test looked like the replica of the first one for Australia. No batsmen from the host’s side could score a single-half century. Indian bowlers controlled the innings despite losing Umesh Yadav after some pain issues.
Rahane hitting the winning runs:
India bowled out Australia for 200 runs in the third innings taking a total of 70 runs to score in the fourth innings.
India lost two initial wickets chasing 70 runs but Ajinkya Rahane and Shubman Gill rotated the strike and took India to winning runs. Stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane took the winning runs.
Jasprit Bumrah picked 6 wickets in the test, Mohammad Siraj and Ravi Ashwin picked 5 wickets each.
Ajinkya Rahane was given the Man of the Match award for his great captaincy and brilliant century at MCG.
With the win, India leveled the scores to 1-1. Both the sides will head-on for the third Test game on January 07. However, it is not confirmed about the venue that will host the third test.
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