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Australia beat India by 4 wickets on the day four of the second Test at Gabba to take two-nil lead in the four match series.

Chasing a target of 128, Australia lost David Warner and Shane Watson in quick succession to Ishant Sharma’s bowling. Chris Rogers then played the anchor role and scored his 2nd fifty of the match. Rogers made 55 before becoming Ishant’s third victim. With 114/3, Indian bowlers created some scare as they took 3 wickets for the next 8 runs. But Mitchell Marsh and the hero of the day Mitchell Johnson sealed the deal for their team to take them two-nil up in the series.

Earlier, India started the day four with 71/1 in reply to Australia’s lead of 97 runs. But India lost 4 quick wickets for the next 18 runs they put in. Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma fell cheaply to Mitchell Johnson and captain MS Dhoni also failed to provide some assistance. Dhoni got out for a duck to the debutant Josh Hazlewood. Cheteshwar Pujara and R Ashwin tried to stabilize the innings but Ashwin fell to Starc, leaving India reeling at 117/6.

Shikhar Dhawan, who injured his wrist during practice in the morning, came out to bat and added 26 runs with Pujara, before Pujara’s assistance got ended by Hazlewood. Then it was all left to Dhawan and for the first time in the tour, he showed glimpses of his own self. Dhawan shared a partnership of 60 runs with Umesh Yadav before getting lbw to offie Nathan Lyon. Then Johnson and Lyon got the better of India’s tail as India finished their innings with 224 runs on the board, setting Australia a target of 128 runs with one and a half days left in the match.

Earlier in the first innings, riding on Murali Vijay’s 144, India scored 408. Then Australia’s stand-in skipper Steven Smith lead from the front and along Mitchell Johnson, he put on 148 runs for the 8th wicket to take the team’s total to 505, taking the first innings lead of 97 runs.

Scorecard

Indian Innings (Ist Innings): 408 (Murali Vijay 144, Ajinkya Rahane 81, Josh Hazlewood 5-68).

Australian Innings (Ist Innings): 505 (Steve Smith 133, Mitchell Johnson 88, Umesh Yadav 3-101).

Indian Innings (2nd Innings): 224 (Shikhar Dhawan 81, Cheteshwar Pujara 43, Mitchell Johnson 4-61).

Australian Innings (2nd Innings Target: 128):

Batsmen	Dismissal	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Chris Rogers	c Dhawan b I Sharma	55	57	10	0
David Warner	c Dhoni b I Sharma	6	12	0	0
Shane Watson	c Dhoni b I Sharma	0	8	0	0
Steve Smith	run out (Yadav/Dhoni)	28	39	4	0
Shaun Marsh	c Dhoni b Yadav	17	17	3	0
Brad Haddin	c Kohli b Yadav	1	2	0	0
Mitchell Marsh	not out	6	7	1	0
Mitchell Johnson	not out	2	3	0	0
Extras	(b 4, lb 4, w 1, nb 6)	15
Total	(6 wickets; 23.1 overs)	130