Ajinkya Rahane hit a brilliant 89 in the first innings to salvage pride for India.© AFP
Team India lost their five big wickets for just 151 runs on Day 2 of the ongoing World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval. After bundling out Australia at 469, the Indian top-order had a tough time facing the bowling attack led by Pat Cummins. Only Ravindra Jadeja provided India with some momentum as he scored 48 off 51 balls but got dismissed by Nathan Lyon. Ajinkya Rahane hit a brilliant 89 to salvage some pride for India.
Rahane, who played his last Test match for India in January 2022, got praised by former South Africa batter AB de Villiers for his brilliant technique.
“I’ve never seen Rahane move so well! Technique is sound and playing it late,” wrote de Villiers, while replying on renowned cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle’s tweet. .
I’ve never seen Rahane move so well! Technique is sound and playing it late
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) June 8, 2023
Notably, Rahane was given LBW out for 17 on Pat Cummins’ delivery but he took a DRS review and it was found that the Australia skipper had overstepped, which gave a new life to Rahane.
India were reeling at 151 for five at stumps in response to Australia’s first innings score of 469, trailing by 318 runs.
While the Indian bowlers failed to use the bouncer effectively on day one, the likes of Shubman Gill (13) and Cheteshwar Pujara (14) committed the cardinal sin of misjudging the line and length on a pitch with variable bounce.
Credit should also go to the relentless Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Scott Boland, who got much more out of The Oval surface than their Indian counterparts.
Australia added 142 runs to their overnight total for the loss of seven wickets before being bowled out one hour into the afternoon session. Mohammed Siraj cleaned up the tail and was the pick of India’s bowlers with four wickets.
(With PTI Inputs)
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