The pitch laid flat under the hot sun, and the batting conditions improved much, and the Indian pair made a fine profit. Jaiswal showed great patience and maturity by getting rid of his first-innings duck to score his maiden fifty on Australian soil. At the other end, Rahul, still in his purple patch, gave vital support. Mitchell Starc tried to provoke Jaiswal into reckless driving but the young left-hander showed composure and stopped nothing from becoming a distraction.
Early on the day, the Australian seamers could extract some lateral movement, but they could not consistently challenge the Indian batters. Within the first ten overs, captain Pat Cummins plodded through his pace arsenal, even employing a short-ball flurry led by Josh Hazlewood. Neither the short-pitched approach, though, nor the new-ball swing offered anything new.
Earlier, it was the Australia last-wicket stand by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood that annoyed India with a tough stand while demonstrating the change in conditions. In a rare display of defiance against the otherwise relentless Indian attack, Starc top-scored with a resolute 26 from 112 balls. With stats of 5/30 in 18 overs, the outstanding batsman herein was Jasprit Bumrah constantly outpacing the bat with accuracy and speed.
Story Highlights:
India scored 172/0 and led by 218 runs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal nears hundred.
Press Conference: Harshit Rana after Day 2 ends:
Harshit Rana said “It helps quite a lot to have advice from Virat bhaiya and Jassi bhaiya. Their inputs on where to bowl and their confidence in me gave me a special kind of self-belief”.
Harshit Rana said “A day before my debut, I had to make a speech in a team environment when I was told I would be making my debut. I broke down. Mein ro pada (I cried).”
