Australia vs India: 2nd Test, Day 1: Josh Hazlewood strikes peg back India

Resuming from 87-1 at Lunch, the Indians struggled to get going in the second session on day 1 of the second Test at The Gabba, Brisbane. Debutant Josh Hazlewood pitched in with 2 wickets in the session which leaves India at 151-3 in 52 overs. Murali Vijay is batting well on 73 and Ajinkya Rahane isgiving him ocmpany on an unbeaten 13.

Earlier in the session, Hazlewood had Cheteshwar Pujara caught behind in a bizzare manner for 16, as the replays clearly showed that the ball deviated after hitting the grill of the helmet and umpire Ian Gould raised his fingers straightaway. Virat Kohli, who scored twin centuries in the previous Test at Adelaide looked good in his short stay at the crease which included a 27 ball 19 studded with 3 glorious boundaries. He got out cutting a Hazlewood delivery close to his body offering Brad Haddin a simple catch behind the stumps. Mtchell Marshgot his hamstring injured and is out of the field leaing Steve Smith a bowler short.

Lunch Report:

Indians continued their momentum of fighting spirit from first test during the 1st session of 2nd test. At Lunch at Brisbane, Indians were situated at 89 for loss of a wicket after opting to bat and comfortably won the session.

Indian team seen the return of their regular captain MS Dhoni who won the toss and decided to bat first in order to utilise the hot and humid weather of Brisbane. India came out with 3 changes from their team in previous test with Wriddhiman Saha, Karn Sharma making way for Captain MS Dhoni, off spinner Ravi Ashwin and Mohammad Shami been replaced by Umesh Yadav.

On a slight greenish bouncy Gabba track, Indian openers got off to a cautious start. Both Vijay and Dhawan felt happy to settle in seeing off the new ball. Slowly Vijay tried to score freely and both kept rotating the strike. With the long boundaries out there and not a great outfield, Indians needed to put work to their legs during a hot morning. However, they did it pretty well with running three on several occasions. Soon the Indian innings run rate read about 4 and the scoreboard seen the score past 50, bringing up a rare opening stand.

The opening stand was only the second fifty stand at Gabba for a visiting team during first innings of the match. This was also the first fifty stand for India in overseas in 35 innings and first in last 17 innings.

However, the that happiness didn’t resist long as Dhawan trying to cut a widish delivery of Mitchell Marsh ended up giving a catch to Keeper, Haddin and first Test wicket to Marsh. This brought an end to his bit and pieces 24 helped to put a stand of 56 with Vijay.

Later Pujara who joined Vijay has a couple of nit picking moments to Lyon, who troubled his even in first test. However, Vijay, who got a life after been dropped in slips played carefully further. With an unbeaten stand of 33, these both put India in a good position at Lunch.

Indian Batting (Ist Innings):

 

Batsmen Dismissal Runs Balls 4s 6s
Murali Vijay not out 73 137 9 0
Shikhar Dhawan c Haddin b M Marsh 24 39 0 0
Cheteshwar Pujara Haddin b Hazlewood 18 64 1 0
Virat Kohli Haddin b Hazlewood 9 27 1 0
Ajinkya Rahane ot out 13 25 0 0
Extras (b 4) 4      
Total 52 overs 151-3

 

To bat: Rohit SharmaMS DhoniR AshwinIshant SharmaVarun AaronUmesh Yadav.

Australia Bowling:

 

Bowling Overs Maidens Runs Wickets Economy
Mitchell Johnson 10 2 36 0 3.60
Josh Hazlewood 12 5 21 2 1.75
Mitchell Starc 9 0 38 0 4.22
Mitchell Marsh 6 1 14 1 2.33
Nathan Lyon 13 0 38 0 2.92
Shane Watson 2 2 0 0 0.00

Sampath Bandarupalli

Cricket Statistician and Journalist. Love to churn out facts and stats. Member of the Society of Cricket Statisticians of India (SCSI).

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