India vs Australia 2017, 3rd Test, Day 2: Twitter Reacts As Hosts Start Strongly In Reply To Australia's 451 1

Openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay survived the final session with a sturdy approach to keep India on track after bowling out Australia for 451 on second day of the third Test at Ranchi. Ravindra Jadeja produced a wonderful spell in the post lunch session to hurry up the downfall of the Australian team.

Indian openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay added 91 runs for the first wicket before the Karnataka lad was undone by a beauty from Pat Cummins. With nine overs left, the Australians vied for another breakthrough to end another day of play on a productive note. But fortunately for India, Cheteshwar Pujara and Vijay batted out the remaining overs.

Earlier, Australian skipper Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell continued to enjoy the Ranchi track and displayed great intent to make life tough for Indian bowlers. Smith, who scored his 19th Test century on Day 1, batted with an air of invincibility around him and remained unbeaten at 178 to guide his team to a big total. Maxi also moved ahead from his overnight score of 82 and went on to register his maiden century.

A big suspense which clouded the minds of the Indian fans was whether Virat Kohli would bat in the first innings. As it turned out, Kohli is supposed to play at his batting position after his time away from the field was judged to be as the result of an external impact.

The pitch showed a hint of wear out as it began to assist spinners quite nicely. So it wasn’t surprising to Jadeja quickly finishing off the innings and completing yet another five-wicket haul. Maxwell lost his wicket soon after having mild yet emotional century celebration with Smith. Matthew Wade hung around with Smith and put on 64 runs for the sixth wicket before Jadeja got rid of him to keep the hosts in contest. A ball later, he produced a stunner to clean up Cummins.

But just when it seemed the Aussies were been rolled under the carpet, Steve O’ Keefe partnered with Smith to push the team’s total close to 450. There was no resistance shown after O’ Keefe’s departure as Jadeja snapped one more wicket in the form of Lyon and then ran out Josh Hazlewood in epic ‘no-look’ Dhoni style to put an end to Australia’s innings.

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