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AUS vs IND 5th Test Day 2 Highlights: Pant Blinder, Boland Spell Poise Test After Siraj, Krishna 3-Fers

Aakash Saini

Rishabh Pant in action on Day 2 [Source: AP Photos]Rishabh Pant in action on Day 2 [Source: AP Photos]

Rishabh Pant’s sparkling half-century and Scott Boland’s four-wicket haul became the headline acts of an exhilarating Day 2 of the SCG Test between titans India and Australia. Earlier in the day, Team India escaped with a narrow first innings lead courtesy of collective pace brilliance of Mohammed Siraj and comeback man Prasidh Krishna.

Here’s the timeline of how AUS vs IND panned out in SCG:

AUS vs IND Highlights: Bumrah And Siraj Devour Australian Top-Order

Emboldened with the twilight strike of Usman Khawaja, Indian captain Jasprit Bumrah got the better of dangerman Marnus Labuschagne within just the fourth over of Day 2. Young Sam Konstas also failed to add much to his overnight score as he edged one towards Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully off Mohammed Siraj after his fiery exchange with Bumrah.

A couple of deliveries later in the same over, Siraj dismissed Travis Head as Australia crashed to 39-4 before Steve Smith’s steady 57-run partnership with debutant Beau Webster steered them near the 100-run mark.

AUS vs IND Highlights: Webster’s Fighting 57 Defies India Amidst Krishna’s Clean-Up Job

Steve Smith’s threatening stay was curtailed by India’s comeback man Prasidh Krishna at 33. The speedster also knocked over Alex Carey, and bounced out Australia’s lone half-centurion Beau Webster to claim figures of 3-42 on his Test return.

With Jasprit Bumrah taking some time off the field, Nitish Kumar Reddy prevented the Australian tail from flourishing with the key wickets of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in successive overs. Mohammed Siraj picked up his third scalp of the day in the form of number 11 Scott Boland to keep Australia within four runs of India’s first innings total.

AUS vs IND Highlights: Rishabh Pant’s Blinder Takes India Ahead After Boland Blitz

Yashasvi Jaiswal set off India’s second innings with four boundaries off Mitchell Starc in the opening over. The dashing youngster raced to 22 before he and his senior partner KL Rahul were both cleaned up by Scott Boland.

The Australian speedster also towered over India’s batting juggernaut Virat Kohli with a similar off-stump delivery as the visitors slipped to 59-3 inside the first hour. Shubman Gill punched out a couple of confident boundaries but the charismatic number three failed to go beyond 13, courtesy of a diving catch from Alex Carey off Beau Webster at 78-4.

Thereafter, Rishabh Pant broke through and ravaged the Australian attack with six boundaries and four sixes in his raging knock of 61 from just 33 deliveries. The dashing wicketkeeper-batter blazed to his half-century from 29 balls to record India’s second-fastest fifty in Tests.

Pant’s dismissal to Pat Cummins against the run-of-play, and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s second failure of the match to Scott Boland ensured India reached 141-6 from 32 overs by stumps.

With an overall lead of 145 runs, the second Indian innings will resume on Day 3, with India’s spin-bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja (8* off 39) and Washington Sundar (6* off 17) having settled at the crease.