Team India led by Ajinkya Rahane in the second Test match at MCG buried the ghosts of Adelaide to make quite a comeback in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy. Led by India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, India batted home team Australia out of the game taking a first innings lead of 131 runs. This lead proved out to be winning factor for India who went to win the Test match by a margin of 8 wickets.
Having opted to bat first, Australia posted just 195 on the board before getting all out. Marnus Labuschagne with little luck again top scored for the hosts in the first innings with 48. Aussies total of 195 does not seem to be enough even for this Indian batting line-up who are without Virat Kohli in this Test!
Ajinkya Rahane’s 12th Test century coupled with crucial contributions from Ravindra Jadeja (57) and Shubman Gill (45) helped India post 326 on the board, thereby taking a lead of 131 runs in the first innings. Australia dropped too many catches in India’s first innings and that proved very costly in the end! The 121-run partnership between Rahane and Jadeja stands tall in India’s first innings.
Australia went into bat in their second innings hoping to clear the big deficit losing few wickets or even none! But by the time India’s lead is completely waived off, Australia have only 6 wickets in hand with Cameron Green and Pat Cummins at the crease! The last four wickets stretched the Australia’s second innings lead to 69 runs setting a 70-run target for India. It was a superb effort from the Indian bowling line-up in Australia’s second innings especially with the injury of Umesh Yadav who left the field only after bowling 3.3 overs. Debutant Mohammad Siraj stepped up to the cause with a 3-fer in this innings.
Chasing just 70 runs to win, India lost their first two wickets for just 19 runs on the board – Mayank Agarwal (5) and Cheteshwar Pujara (3). Those two quick wickets sent down shivers across the Indian camp who are coming from a 36 all out at the Adelaide Oval. However, captain Rahane (27*) and opener Shubman Gill (35*) ensured India doesn’t lose any more wickets in this Test match. The pair stitched an unbeaten 51-run stand for the third wicket to help India take the match by 8 wickets and level the series 1-1.
Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane has been adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’ for his contribution with the bat in both the innings. For the record, India are yet to lose a Test match when Rahane a Test century including this Test match – 9 wins and 3 draws.
Meanwhile, Australia might axe their opener Joe Burns for the third Test match who clearly struggled in both the innings of the MCG Test. The home team really needed their opener David Warner back from injury for the third Test match at SCG starting on Jan 07. On the other hand, Cameron Green who was struggling with both bat and ball might retain his place in the side after his fighting knock of 45 in Australia’s second innings.
Brief Scores: India – 326 all out (Ajinkya Rahane – 112, Nathan Lyon – 3/72) & 70/2 (Shubman Gill – 35, Mitchell Starc – 1/20) defeated Australia – 195 all out (Marnus Labuschagne – 48, Jasprit Bumrah – 4/56) & 200 all out (Cameron Green – 45, Mohammad Siraj – 3/37) by a margin of 8 wickets
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