Australia vs India, Third Test: 5 talking points of Day 2
After an uneventful first day which saw runs being scored at a very slow rate and the bowlers toiling hard to extract something out of the surface, Test cricket fans were hoping for a more even contest between bat and ball on day 2. Pujara and Kohli were once again cautious while dealing with the Australian pacers. Pujara got to his 3rd overseas century this year minutes before lunch.
Post lunch, Starc finally dismissed Virat Kohli and soon Pujara also walked back to the pavilion after being cleaned up by Cummins. Rahane played with a positive intent with Rohit Sharma playing an uncharacteristic anchor role at the other end. Nathan Lyon dismissed Rahane for the 8th time after tea by trapping him in front of the stumps.
Pant and Rohit started to accelerate in the final few overs of the day and Kohli declared with 443 runs on board. Australia survived 6 testing overs from Indian bowlers and were 8-0 at the end of the day.
Here's a look at five talking points from Day 2
#1 India’s conservative approach
On a track without any demons on it, India’s scoring rate raised many eyebrows. At the end of day 1, Kohli and Pujara had played all the bowlers and looked very settled in the middle.
But during the morning session, both of them did not show any signs of aggression and it looked like the plan was to tire the Aussie bowlers rather than frustrate them with boundaries. Probably, the surprise of the day was the manner in which Rishabh Pant’s approach in his innings of 39.
Pant’s natural instinct is to attack regardless of the pitch, opposition or the match situation but he rarely took any risk against the tiring Australian bowlers on a flat deck. Then just when it looked like India were starting to be more positive, Kohli declared with a plan to give the Aussie openers a few tricky overs before the end of the day’s play. Overall, this was a strange first innings from India and only time will tell whether Kohli got it right with his declaration.