3 major talking points from Day 2 of 1st India-Australia Test
India edged ahead in the first Border Gavaskar Test against Australia in Nagpur. Led by a fine century by captain Rohit Sharma, the hosts dug deep and kept chipping away at the runs and pulled ahead of Australia on a surface that will become increasingly difficult to bat on.
Australia, however, never allowed India to race away with the game and kept fighting back with wickets at regular intervals. They were very decisive at the beginning of each session. Debutant Todd Murphy was superb as he picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in First-Class cricket.
for captain @ImRo45 
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It's Stumps on Day 2 of the first #INDvAUS Test!
#TeamIndia move to 321/7 & lead Australia by 144 runs. 👏 👏
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We will be back for Day 3 action tomorrow.
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It was an interesting day of Test cricket where the hosts had to work hard for their runs, but eventually finished the day strongly.
Here's a look at the key talking points at the end of Day 2 of the India vs Australia Test match:
#3 Captain Rohit leading from the front
After a bright and breezy start on day one, India’s charge on day two was led by their captain Rohit Sharma. In challenging batting conditions, Rohit dug deep and was compact in his defense, and at the same time kept using his feet admirably to keep the spinners at bay.
It was a controlled innings at all times and he looked a cut above the rest of the batters as India edged ahead of Australia. He got to his 100 with a lofted chip drive over mid-off in his typical elegant manner and soaked in the applause.
He was dismissed after tea by Pat Cummins with an absolute beauty. The new ball pitched on middle and off and straightened just a touch to knock out the off stump. However, his innings placed India in the ascendancy and it could turn out to be a match-winning effort.
Smiles, claps & appreciation all around! 😊 👏
This has been a fine knock! 👍 👍
Take a bow, captain @ImRo45 🙌🙌
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#2 Todd Murphy makes his mark
Indian batters have been rather generous to debutant spinners and this trend continued in the first Test at Nagpur. Todd Murphy, making his debut, showed promise with the wicket of KL Rahul late on day one.
He continued to be relentless with his accuracy and lengths and accounted for the big wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. He then got rid of KS Bharat to complete a five-wicket haul on his debut.
In many ways, he outbowled senior pro Nathan Lyon and his selection ahead of Ashton Agar proved to be an inspired one.
#1 Ravindra Jadeja – runs follows wickets
After stamping his authority with the ball with a five-wicket haul, Ravindra Jadeja stepped up and made his presence felt with the bat as well. He walked in when the match was in the balance and stitched a valuable partnership with captain Rohit Sharma.
When Rohit was dismissed, Jadeja took the lead and stayed in the zone, and kept driving the Australian attack into the ground. He showed his value with a defiant half-century and pushed India’s lead to 144.
He was given great assistance by Axar Patel – another player who has been mighty impressive with the bat in the recent past. Axar too notched up his 50 as the hosts are now firmly in the driver’s seat.