A solid fightback from India led by opener KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara has added an interesting zing to the 2nd Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
After bowling out Australia for 276 in the first session of the day 3, India put up a rather stable batting performance to end at 213/4 at stumps.
India had to deal with an early blow once again as Abhinav Mukund failed to make any significant contribution once again. But, Indian fans were soon relieved to see the pair of KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara carry ahead the innings smoothly and keep India away from slipping into any bothersome situation.
Rahul, unfortunately, lost his wicket just after finishing his fifty in the lunch session. Soon, Australia looked as if they were getting an upper hand in the lunch session as skipper Virat Kohli experienced a bad outing once again. Kohli swiftly moved to 15 runs and was at ease before his time was cut short by Hazlewood who trapped him leg before. Jadeja, sent ahead of Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair, also did not sustain for long. Their departure was a huge dent but Pujara was there to keep the simple and tidy. The Saurashtra star along with Rahane smoothly batted out the last session without any further damage. Pujara eventually ended the day unbeaten at 79 while Rahane returned with 40 runs to his name.
Local boy KL Rahul spoke about the day’s play in the post-match conference. Here is what he had to say:
“Not much adjustment. It was a little easier than the first innings when the pitch was damp and that’s why it bounced a bit more. I’ve played a lot of cricket here, it’s my home and I know the third day is the best to bat. On the fourth day a few will keep down and a few will bounce up. So now we are really happy we got off to a good start and got good partnerships,” Rahul says.
“We went in with a very clear intent to use our feet and rotate the strike. That’s the only way we could put pressure back because the fielders were back on the boundaries. Been really disappointing, getting to start and not converting them, especially when the team needed me to stay out and get big runs. Tried to build from strength to strength and hopefully, I can build on it moving forward too. Hopefully, Rahane and Pujara can continue and get us a 100 more runs, that’ll be gold”