IND vs AUS 1st Test: Rohit Sharma leads India’s charge with stellar 100, hosts in driver’s seat

IND vs AUS 1st Test: The beauty of Test cricket is that it gives both teams equal chances to fight and bounce back. This has been the case with the Indian cricket team and the Australian cricket team on the second day of the Nagpur Test match. India were in the driver’s seat for two sessions but the Aussies fought their way back and the fate of this Test match hangs in balance. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma completely dominated the Aussies with his batting prowess, but the Australian debutant kept on fighting as he grabbed 5 wickets which is an achievement in itself.

India walked out to bat with a trail of 100 runs on them. Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin batted well together and stitched a partnership of 42 odd runs, but Todd Murphy struck and dismissed Ashwin while he was batting on 23 off 62 deliveries. Interestingly, Pujara batted differently from his reputation. India’s number 3 threw his bat to everything, but his stay was shortened by Murphy. Pujara scored 7 off 14 deliveries as he batted with a strike rate of 50. Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli looked pretty decent with the bat, but to his misfortune, Murphy trapped him with the very first ball post-lunch break. 

As wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Rohit batted patiently and treated the ball on its merit. Rohit scored 120 runs from 212 deliveries and led his team from the front. Pat Cummins restricted Rohit from converting his score into a massive one and picked him up post-tea. Once Rohit departed, Australia tried to restrict India’s free-scoring. They picked up Srikar Bharat very cheaply, but it was Jadeja and Axar Patel who ensured that India keep on cruising. Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja scored half-centuries and India now lead by 144 runs.

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India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Scott Bolan

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