Stand-in Australian skipper Steven Smith continued his dream run in the series as he scored 65* to take Australia to 221/4 at the end of 2nd day’s play at Gabba. Smith is yet to dismissed in the series.
In the third session of the second day, Shaun Marsh and Steven Smith lead Australia’s reply before Ajinkya Rahane dropped Marsh at short fine-leg of Varun Aaron’s bowling. Much to Rahane’s relief, R Ashwin caught Marsh off Umesh Yadav’s bowling two overs later. Marsh scored 32. In came-in injured Mitchell Marsh and played nicely till the play was called off 10 overs earlier due to bad light.
With Marsh around and Haddin still to come, Smith would feel comfortable going into the 3rd day’s play and if Marsh and Haddin revolve well around Smith, Australia will surely get past India’s first innings total of 408.
Scorecard:
India (Ist Innings) 408 all out (Murali Vijay 144, Ajinkya Rahane 81, Josh Hazlewood 5-68)
Australia Batting (Ist Innings):
| Batsmen | Batsmen | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s |
| Chris Rogers | c †Dhoni b Yadav | 55 | 79 | 10 | 0 |
| David Warner | c Ashwin b Yadav | 29 | 28 | 6 | 0 |
| Shane Watson | c Dhawan b Ashwin | 25 | 29 | 4 | 0 |
| Steve Smith* | not out | 65 | 88 | 6 | 2 |
| Shaun Marsh | c Ashwin b Yadav | 32 | 70 | 5 | 0 |
| Mitchell Marsh | not out | 7 | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| Extras | (lb 1, w 3, nb 4) | 8 | |||
| Total | 52 overs | 221-4 |
India Bowling (Ist Innings):
| Bowling | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
| I Sharma | 9 | 0 | 47 | 0 | 5.22 |
| Varun Aaron | 12 | 1 | 59 | 0 | 4.91 |
| Umesh Yadav | 13 | 2 | 48 | 3 | 3.69 |
| R Ashwin | 18 | 3 | 66 | 1 | 3.66 |
Read the lunch and the tea report here
VERDICT: India have the advantage going into the third day of the second test.