KL Rahul departs [Source: @cricketcomau/X.com]
India's hopes of extending their lead in the fifth Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy took a hit when KL Rahul was dismissed by Scott Boland. After Australia were bowled out for 181 in their first innings, India stepped onto the crease with a slender 4-run lead, looking to strengthen their position.
Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a fiery start, smashing Mitchell Starc for four boundaries in the very first over. On the other hand, KL Rahul opted for a more cautious approach, looking to stabilise the innings. However, Australia's Scott Boland had other plans and broke the partnership that was beginning to build.
The breakthrough came in the 8th over of India's second innings. On the third ball of the over, Boland bowled a perfect in-swinger that knocked over KL Rahul's stumps. It was a fuller-length delivery outside off, swinging back in sharply at a pace of 132.7 km/h.
Rahul attempted an on-the-up drive through the covers but left a huge gap between his bat and pad. The ball took the inside edge of his bat and crashed into the top of the leg stump. With that, Rahul's innings came to an end after he scored 13 runs off 20 balls.
India Leave Australia Reeling On Day 2
Earlier in the day, India bowlers were in top form, making a significant impact by bowling out Australia for just 181 runs. Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna led the attack with three wickets each, while Jasprit Bumrah and Nitish Kumar Reddy took two wickets apiece. Australia struggled to build partnerships, with Beau Webster and Steve Smith being the only notable contributors, scoring 57 and 33 runs, respectively.
At the time of writing, India are at 48 for 2 in 10 overs.