Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Geoff Lemon at the MCG (earlier) and Scott Heinrich (later)

Australia v India: second Test, day two – as it happened

Hanuma Vihari
India’s Hanuma Vihari walks off the MCG pitch after being caught and bowled by Australia via a Nathan Lyon delivery during the second day of the second Test. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Summary

A day of emergence for India and lost opportunity for Australia. Led by Pat Cummins, the hosts held the upper hand early on when reducing India to 64-3 but from that point on it was all India.

Ajinkya Rahane was magnificent scoring his 12th Test century - and second at the MCG - and it’s unlikely he’s registered one as important. The stand-in skipper rode his luck - Rahane was dropped twice among four dropped catches for the day - and made Australia pay with a sublime, assured offering that isn’t done with yet. After India’s early losses, the middle-order hunted in pairs with Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja each combining with their skipper for meaningful partnerships. Rahane’s current stand with Jadeja is worth 104, with India’s lead stretching out to 82.

With five wickets still in hand, this is an excellent response to the nightmare of Adelaide and India are primed to strike back after their humiliating defeat in the first Test. Australia had a day to forget in the field. The quartet of dropped catches (to make five for the innings) let India off at critical moments while the pace attack that was so lethal in Adelaide remarkably failed to take a wicket under heavy skies with the second new ball. Australia need to muster a response of their own on day three.

Thanks for your company today. Let’s do it all again tomorrow.

Stumps - India 277-5 (lead by 82 runs)

And that is indeed it for the day. Advantage India. After their wretched batting performance in the first Test, they are in the box seat to draw level in this series. Australia’s fielding, however, is aiding their cause.

92nd over: India 277-5 (Rahane 104, Jadeja 40) Paine is really chasing this breakthrough. Now Lyon is rested with Starc brought back. And another dropped catch! Rahane gets a big leading edge that ricochets off his helmet and looks gone for all money as Labuschagne runs in from gully and Head from point. The latter looks to have taken a diving catch but as he hits the deck the ball pops out. That’s four dropped catches today, five for the innings. And now the covers are on. Players are walking off. Might be done for the day.

91st over: India 276-5 (Rahane 104, Jadeja 39) And now Green returns. His second, third and fourth deliveries are so wide outside off they couldn’t be hit if Jadeja tried. A straight one finally follows but it’s so short that Jadeja leaves it on height. Australia have squandered this new ball, have hardly make India play at it. Two from the over. Ho-hum.

Over to Colum Fordham: “Naples calling. Was debating whether to get up early this morning to catch the last hour of the match as the last time I did it was a horror show and India had floundered to 36-9 and the match virtually over. Today much more interesting and delighted to see Rahane has made a ton. I love watching Jadeja play. His superb catch yesterday seems to prove the exception to Sohid Ahmed’s rule and I hope he reaches fifty so we can see him celebrating in style. One hand one bounce eh? Cheeky. Maybe for Smith.”

90th over: India 274-5 (Rahane 104, Jadeja 38) Lyon on now. Quite remarkable. The pace attack that skittled India for 36 in Adelaide have failed to take a wicket with the second new ball. A single from the over. Don’t look like getting out, these two.

89th over: India 273-5 (Rahane 104, Jadeja 37) Hazlewood around the wicket to Jadeja. It’s windy right now and there are smiles all round as a small plastic bad swept across the pitch just as Hazlewood was into his action. Not sure Jadeja would have been smiling if he’d been castled. Rahane then gets on strike and he’s pretty much doing as he very well pleases now, this time helping himself to a cover drive for four.

Rahane century!

88th over: India 268-5 (Rahane 100, Jadeja 36) Now Cummins zeroes in on Rahane’s pads and that’s much more like it. Rahane plays and misses but height is again an issue. But the India skipper then gets a gift from Cummins - wide outside off stump - to move to triple figures with a cut shot that speeds to the fence. One hundred not out off 195 balls. His 12th Test century. Take a bow, Ajinkya. A (stand-in) captain’s knock.

87th over: India 264-5 (Rahane 96, Jadeja 36) Straighter, and better, from Hazlewood, who draws a false shot from Rahane and raps him on the pads. No lbw chance, however. The India skipper then picks up three forward of midwicket to move to 96.

Sohid Ahmed has an interesting take on these dropped catches: “I cannot believe the number of catches that have been dropped in this series by players who are generally considered to have the safest pair of hands in the game. We saw it with Virat, Steve Smith, etc. It seems to be the new normal now. They will need to start having strategies that factor in a certain number of dropped catches.”

One hand, one bounce?

86th over: India 261-5 (Rahane 93, Jadeja 36) Cummins continues. Rahane drives sweetly but straight to mid-off before hooking forward of square for two. Yes there has been a dropped catch, but not sure Australia’s quicks have got their tactics right with the new ball. Rahane is into the not-so-nervous 90s.

85th over: India 256-5 (Rahane 89, Jadeja 35) Hazlewood replaces Starc. Not a great first over back, either too short or too wide. Two runs for Jadeja through midwicket is all there is to report.

Here’s that Rahane drive off Cummins. Nice blow.

84th over: India 254-5 (Rahane 89, Jadeja 33) Cummins continues as Hazlewood warms up in the deep. The paceman traps Jadeja on the crease and goes up for an lbw appeal that’s worth a shout, but height was always the concern. No review. Head then gets some sort of marginal chance at short-leg but the ball was past him before he knew it. The current partnership is worth 81 runs. India lead by 59.

83rd over: India 251-5 (Rahane 88, Jadeja 31) These two are playing their shots to the new ball. And why not? Beats playing to survive and then getting out. A quick single hands the strike to Rahane, who picks up two to fine-leg before swinging very hard at one from Starc outside off but missing. A horrid delivery to end the over - short and very wide - is clunked high into the sky over backward point for four.

82nd over: India 244-5 (Rahane 82, Jadeja 30) Cummins from the other end. Three slips and a gully. Dark skies. Lights on. Should be fertile ground for taking wickets so long as Australia can trouser their chances. And it’s nice and full from Cummins but Rahane is seeing them big. He steps into one and drives to the fence before playing a near-identical shot that he doesn’t get quite as much of but still picks up two. Rahane then gets onto the back foot and punches forward of point for two more. Labuschagne’s returns from the deep aren’t clean into the gloves and he gets the thousand-yard stare from Paine. Gotta keep the new rock new, young man. Eight from the over. Excellent batting.

81st over: India 236-5 (Rahane 74, Jadeja 30) Starc replaces Green and the new ball is taken immediately. And doesn’t the new cherry come off the bat nicely?! First ball of the over, Jadeja clips Starc off his pads for three through midwicket. Dropped catch! Rahane goes after one wide outside off-stump but Smith makes an absolute meal of it at head height, spilling the chance at second slip. It did go to him very quickly, but a chance it was. That’s three dropped catches this innings, plus one that flew between keeper and second slip (when no first slip was in place). Could be a match-defining state of affairs. Time for drinks.

Way to fetch the new ball.

Updated

80th over: India 232-5 (Rahane 73, Jadeja 27) Three runs for Jadeja off Lyon and it’s another nice shot that races through the covers. Four from the over and that, ladies and gentlemen, might be it for this ball.

79th over: India 228-5 (Rahane 72, Jadeja 24) Great shot for no runs as Rahane middles a cover drive straight to the fielder. Green then drops one in short and it piques the interest of the India captain, who rolls his wrists and hooks down to fine-leg for one. Two really good shots for one measly run. Cricket can be cruel. Jadeja collects two through midwicket to end the over. Will Paine take the new ball straight away? And to whom will he hand it - Starc and Hazlewood or Starc and Cummins? Or Smith and Labuschagne? Sorry, I don’t have the answers. Just the questions.

Updated

78th over: India 225-5 (Rahane 71, Jadeja 22) Jadeja nurdles to point and wants a single, wants it bad, but Rahane is having none of it. Blimey, Jadeja was almost halfway down the pitch before retreating. And he made it home with ease. Methinks there was a run there. A maiden ensues. Two overs and the new ball is due.

77th over: India 225-5 (Rahane 71, Jadeja 22) More movement in the air for Green but he can’t make the breakthrough. Just a single from the over.

Time to hand the mic over to Pratik Dubey: “Some guys need that extra pressure to make them perform a notch higher and Rahane for me fits right in that bracket. This is around the time when Rahane usually gets out after a good looking fifty. Another hour and we would know if my theory holds any weight.”

76th over: India 224-5 (Rahane 71, Jadeja 21) Immense turn, and a fair bit of bounce, from Lyon sees Jadeja swing and miss by some distance. Paine likes it. Later in the over, Lyon does well to gather from his own bowling but he’s not happy with Jadeja for some reason. Maybe he tripped on the non-striker’s bat?

75th over: India 223-5 (Rahane 71, Jadeja 20) Green is too short, too wide and that’s easy runs for Jadeja, who spanks it backward of point for four more. A single then brings up the fifty partnership for these two. And what an important union it is becoming for India. From 64-3, the middle-order is doing a very good job for the tourists. A swing and a miss from Rahane completes the over. India lead by 28 runs.

74th over: India 218-5 (Rahane 71, Jadeja 15) Lyon continues with a ball whose condition belies its age. Good leave from Jadeja! They’re all good when they miss the stumps. I think he was expecting more turn on that one. Three singles from the over.

73rd over: India 215-5 (Rahane 70, Jadeja 13) Green returns and he instantly gets plenty of shape on the ball, coming into the left-handed Jadeja from over the wicket. Just one slip in place, again, but Green’s line isn’t great and he hardly makes Jadeja play at one, save for the last delivery of the over that brings a single behind square.

Onya, Ric, You’re always good for gems like these.

72nd over: India 214-5 (Rahane 70, Jadeja 12) Lyon indeed. His loosener is a little too loose and Rahane moves his feet nicely to beat the cover fielder for two. Even better footwork later in the over sees Rahane meet the pitch of the ball before collecting four runs past mid-off. Nice shot.

Here’s that Rahane let-off from a few overs ago.

71st over: India 208-5 (Rahane 64, Jadeja 12) Wade has been off the field for a couple of overs - not sure why - but he looks close to returning. Hazlewood v Jadeja etches its latest chapter, this time the bowler from around the wicket, but Jadeja maintains his self-control with the catching fielders in place. Another maiden. Nine overs before the new ball is due. Lyon anyone?

70th over: India 208-5 (Rahane 64, Jadeja 12) A fair bit happening for Starc, who’s getting good lateral movement with the old ball. Rahane has his eye in, however, keeping out the good balls and scoring off the loose ones - including a deft cut forward of point for two runs.

69th over: India 206-5 (Rahane 62, Jadeja 12) Hazlewood again. AB is making a good point on the telly regarding unconventional fielding positions. Predictably, Herr Border is not a fan. Give him two slips and gully every day of the week. The short square returns for Jadeja, again with two slips in place. But Hazlewood’s radar is a little off and the over passes with no threat to the batsman, who keeps the score ticking over with three runs past point.

68th over: India 202-5 (Rahane 61, Jadeja 9) Absolute beauty from Starc beats Rahane’s outside edge and whistles past the off-stump. Deadly length, moves off the seam across the right-hander. Some deliveries are simply too good to get a wicket. And, oh my lord, Rahane should be gone later in the over as he gets a big edge that goes right through the gap, at catching height, between keeper and slip. And it was some gap, Smith standing closer to second slip than first.

67th over: India 198-5 (Rahane 57, Jadeja 9) Hazlewood over the wicket to Jadeja with a short square in place. Also two slip fielders so what is he trying to do - bounce him out or get the edge? I guess that, and other such ponderances, form the rich tapestry of Test cricket. There is some short stuff in the over but Jadeja doesn’t care for it. Maiden.

It’s over to Matt Winter: “In another milestone on what has been a day of them, have just heard my 500th tedious discussion about bad light on Test Match Special.”

We’ve all been there, Matt. Hang in there.

66th over: India 198-5 (Rahane 57, Jadeja 9) Lovely, soft hands from Rahane picks up a boundary steered between slip and gully. Not a bad ball from Starc - in fact, it was a very good one across the right-hander - but that was just a beautifully controlled shot. One slides down leg later in the over and Paine is interested but Rahane got nowhere near it. India lead by three runs.

65th over: India 193-5 (Rahane 53, Jadeja 8) Hazlewood returns to roll his arm over for the first time in a while. There’s been a fair bit of bounce in this pitch but he manages to get one to keep very low to Jadeja, who manages to get his bat down in time. Good thing for him - had it hit his pads he might have been in strife. A short one later in the over is hooked confidently by Jadeja but good fielding by Starc at fine-leg keeps the shot to one run.

In answer to the question below, we just are.

64th over: India 192-5 (Rahane 53, Jadeja 7) Starc completes his rain-interrupted over, with two dot balls preceding a muscular pull shot from Jadeja that clears midwicket for three runs. Nice shot.

Players, including Marnus Labuschagne, are returning to the field.

Good news: the rain has stopped, the covers are off and play will resume at 3.45pm local time.

Something here from Eamonn Maloney to chew over during the interval:

As Geoff Lawson knows too well, rash predictions tend to follow pundits around. We laymen are under no such constraints, so I’d like to say that in Green we are looking at the new Watto not the new Botham. Too early to say at 21? No, I submit.

Tea - India 189-5 (trail by six runs)

An engrossing session with 99 runs scored for the loss of two wickets. India are now one lusty blow away from parity and they made good inroads in the afternoon on the back of Rahane and Pant, the latter making a brisk 29 before falling to Starc. Australia will want to do away with Rahane soon after tea if they are to minimise their likely deficit on first-innings scores. See you in a few moments. Hopefully the rain will abate sooner rather than later.

64th over: India 189-5 (Rahane 53, Jadeja 4) Starc to bowl the last over before tea. More wild and woolly stuff from the fast bowler, who drops one in short and the result is again four byes with neither batsman nor keeper any hope of getting near the ball. And as the heavens open the decision is taken to go to tea three deliveries into the over.

Updated

63rd over: India 185-5 (Rahane 53, Jadeja 4) A little bit of movement in the air from Cummins, who keeps Rahane on his toes with one that swings into the right hander. One from the over. Looks like there is some rain on the way. It can pour as it likes after 6pm.

62nd over: India 184-5 (Rahane 53, Jadeja 3) Rahane half-century! Starc overpitches onto Rahane’s pads and is flicked to the fine-leg fence. That shot registers the first fifty of the match and a lovely, measured innings it has hitherto been. He’s no Virat Kohli but he doesn’t need to be. He a very good Ajinkya Rahane. Starc’s radar deserts him again later in the over as not even Paine can get near a wide one down leg that races away for four byes.

61st over: India 176-5 (Rahane 49, Jadeja 3) The Green experiment comes to an end - was Paine listening to Warnie, perchance?! - as Cummins returns to the attack. And it’s a brisk, probing over from the fast bowler, who reverts to over the wicket in a maiden over to Jadeja.

Kudos to Starc, as mentioned below, but Paine can also take a bow. He does very little wrong, does the Aussie skipper. And, seriously, how good was his catch this morning?

WICKET! Pant c Paine b Starc 29 (India 173-5)

60th over: India 176-5 (Rahane 49, Jadeja 3)

That’s the breakthrough Australia needed. Pant has certainly played his shots today but this one was a little too loose, flashing hard at one from Starc outside off and edging to the keeper. That’s Starc’s 250th Test wicket and Paine’s 150th Test dismissal. Starc sits in ninth spot on the Australia Test wicket-takers’ list, nestled snugly between Jason Gillespie and Richie Benaud. Jadeja gets off the mark with a drive down the ground for three to conclude the over.

59th over: India 173-4 (Rahane 49, Pant 29) Green continues. Shane Warne isn’t impressed, referring to Green’s very-short-or-very-full tactics as “first-class” stuff. And Warnie doesn’t mean first-class as in top shelf, if you know what I mean. Harsh, but it must be said Rahane is untroubled as he moves to 49 with two runs through midwicket, the only scoring shot in the over.

58th over: India 171-4 (Rahane 47, Pant 29) It’s a double change for Australia with Starc now on at the other end. We’ll have to wait for the next instalment of Cummins v Pant. Rahane drives sweetly through extra cover for three, which might well have been four if not for the greyhound-like deeds of Labuschagne. Five from the over. These India batsman are having fun out there, not unlike those in the stands.

57th over: India 166-4 (Rahane 43, Pant 28) A good way to take Green’s mind off that dropped catch is to toss him the ball, which is precisely what Paine does. It’s a tidy enough offering from the youngster but Rahane’s beautiful off-drive for four is the over’s best moment. And that’s the fifty partnership. Australia will do well to separate these two.

Updated

56th over: India 161-4 (Rahane 38, Pant 28) Cummins to Pant again. This is developing into a compelling battle. Pant gets plenty of a straight drive and there would have been runs in it if not for some clever work from the fast bowler, who not only collected the shot on his follow-through but had the temerity to have a shy at the stumps. The drama hits fever pitch on the over’s last ball as Pant drives at a wide one but is dropped by Green, who stuck out his left hand at gully but grassed the tough chance. Big let-off for India.

55th over: India 157-4 (Rahane 38, Pant 24) Lyon affords Rahane some width outside off-stump and Rahane is interested - and lucky to still be out there as his attempted cut cannons to the feet of Paine. Some sloppy fielding from Head gifts Rahane two runs before some decidedly better fielding from Green at the end of the over restricts the batsman’s cut shot to two. Really should have been three there.

54th over: India 153-4 (Rahane 34, Pant 24) Cummins stays around the wicket to Pant and this is a better over than the previous, which went for as much as his entire spell this morning. He’s trying to tempt the batsman with some short stuff but Pant politely declines to fall for the sucker punch. A maiden over. That’s more like it.

53rd over: India 153-4 (Rahane 34, Pant 24) Rahane picks up a single from Lyon’s first delivery and putting Pant back on strike is no bad idea. Another boundary flows from the latter’s blade, this time crunched through the covers. Six off this over. Runs, suddenly, are coming thick and fast.

52nd over: India 147-4 (Rahane 33, Pant 19) Cummins again. Can he replicate this morning’s heroics? What a spell that was. Over the wicket to Pant, who punches the first ball after drinks down the ground for two before following up with two more through the covers. But better than both shots is his third effort: an assured, meaty pull shot that fairly well sped to the fence. That’s eight runs in three deliveries. But why stop there? Cummins switches to around the wicket and it’s all the same to Pant, who picks up four more through gully. Twelve off the over. All scored by Pant? What did he imbibe at drinks? Rocket fuel?

Thanks Geoff. Sterling work as always. That was certainly an absorbing hour of play post lunch. There’s plenty in this pitch and plenty in it for everyone. A result deck if ever I spied one. Lyon is starting to turn the ball square and was utterly deserving of his removal of Vihari, a strike that stopped in its tracks a budding stand for India’s fourth wicket. This morning Cummins was, well, breathtaking. Please keep me company from here ‘til stumps. Head north for email and Tweet details, south for comments.

Updated

51st over: India 135-4 (Rahane 33, Pant 7) Another testing over from Lyon: keep your attention on him for the rest of the day. He’ll be closer to 400 wickets by its end, I’ll wager.

Drinks on the field, and it’s time for me to hand over to Scott Heinrich. Cheerio.

50th over: India 134-4 (Rahane 33, Pant 6) Pat Cummins returns after his long spell this morning, and perhaps Rahane thinks that the best time to strike against Cummins is early. He pushes a couple of runs through point, then a couple more into the gap at cover. The boundary to finish the over isn’t intentional, but it was still well played: Cummins yorking Rahane, but the batsman squeezing down on the ball to keep it out. Gets some luck with where it ends up, through the cordon gap.

49th over: India 126-4 (Rahane 25, Pant 6) Can’t resist playing at the ball, Pant. Lyon has come around the wicket to the left-hander, mostly landing outside his off stump, but even defending Pant is reaching for it. The one straighter ball he works leg side for two, then goes back and chops away through cover for one.

48th over: India 122-4 (Rahane 24, Pant 3) Hazlewood has Rahane sparring outside off stump with another fine delivery, Rahane in two minds, wanting to pull away late but it’s too late. Fuller and Rahane is keeping it out of his pads. There has been no point today where an Indian batsman has been able to relax. Another maiden.

47th over: India 122-4 (Rahane 24, Pant 3) The runs come from Lyon, but in contrasting fashion. Rahane controlled, driving and dabbing. Pant in a flurry, outside edging and then cutting.

46th over: India 117-4 (Rahane 22, Pant 0) Hazlewood bowls and gets a little bug or piece of debris in his eye as he follows through. Pat Cummins has to very gently press a finger into his friend’s eye and help dislodge it. That was a tender moment. Rahane gets another run off his pads, putting the left-hander on strike to JH for the first time. Angled across, leaving him.

45th over: India 116-4 (Rahane 21, Pant 0) Rishabh Pant is the next in, a left-hander with Lyon turning the ball away. Could be tough. Pant asks the umpire for a leg-stump guard. Lyon shows him a couple of big turners outside the off stump to get him thinking.

WICKET! Vihari c Smith b Lyon 21, India 116-4

Lyon has looked dangerous, and he delivers! Vihari gets his weight across and plays a late cut for four, but the very next ball he tries to sweep and gets done by Lyon’s bounce. Always one of his weapons. Vihari is through the shot a bit early, the ball hits the back of his glove and lobs straight up over the keeper, and Smith moves across to claim it.

44th over: India 112-3 (Rahane 21, Vihari 17) A fair sense of the bowler that Hazlewood is: he oversteps for a no-ball, then he bowls a rare medium short ball that Rahane confidently pulls for four, behind square. So for a comeback, Hazlewood bowls a top-drawer decker, banging the seam, carving away from Rahane’s bat from back of a length. Beats him entirely. Rahane gets off strike, then Vihari is much less composed against the short ball! Tries a half-hearted short-arm jab, big top edge, but it goes square enough to evade the long leg fielder and gets the batsman a single.

43rd over: India 105-3 (Rahane 16, Vihari 16) Rahane drives Lyon to mid-on, where Joe Burns is set deep, and Paine sledges his own player about being unused to spending time outside the slip cordon. A lot of chatter out there. More shouts when Vihari gets another big turner that comes off the thigh pad to leg slip. No one there to catch it, but no bat involved. Two leg byes.

42nd over: India 102-3 (Rahane 15, Vihari 16) An over where Hazlewood gets a little straighter, trying to bring the pads into play, and that lets each batsman glance a single. Batting against pace looks a little bit easier after lunch. May get worse against spin.

41st over: India 100-3 (Rahane 14, Vihari 15) Rahane down the track for the first time, whips Lyon for a single but in the air through midwicket. Shouts of ‘catch’. Not convincing. Then Lyon produces huge turn, from outside off and it goes way down the leg side, past Vihari’s hip, away for four byes, but Paine doesn’t look unhappy. No chance of saving that but the captain sees that his spinner has weapons to work with. Vihari gets off strike, then Lyon bowls a fuller ball, again big turn, and it spits from outside off towards the top of leg stump, Rahane having to jam down and keep it out via a bottom edge into boot.

40th over: India 94-3 (Rahane 13, Vihari 14) Hazlewood carries on with his patience game, working away around the off stump. Rahane manages a single to the on-side, that’s the only score from the over.

39th over: India 93-3 (Rahane 12, Vihari 14) Lyon from the other end, and he’s probing away immediately. Turning it in at the pad-flap of Rahane. Two close catchers on the leg side, both wearing helmets. Head at short leg, Labuschagne at leg gully I guess you’d call it. Just behind square. Plus a regulation slip. And Paine behind the stumps. Rahane taps a run to cover, Vihari nurdles another. Lyon drops a little short and Rahane is able to pull a single to deep backward square where Starc charges off the rope.

38th over: India 90-3 (Rahane 10, Vihari 13) Hazlewood starts off after lunch, and he’s getting some outswing interestingly. Hangs the ball just outside Vihari’s off stump and finds out what it can do, tailing away. A maiden to start.

Updated

Lunch – India 90 for 3

Quite the session of Test cricket. It was parry and thrust early, with Gill scoring while Cummins and Hazlewood looked dangerous. Once he was out things transitioned more to survival mode, with Cummins especially looking dangerous throughout. He delivered on that threat by picking up Pujara as well, but Rahane and Vihari have made it through the session and will resume with the chance to build.

They currently trail by 105 runs with seven wickets in hand. Very evenly placed.

37th over: India 90-3 (Rahane 10, Vihari 13) Last over before lunch. Vihari works Lyon away for a run. There’s some excitement from the last ball as Rahane edges towards leg slip, but that was controlled by Rahane to get the ball down. Lunch!

Updated

36th over: India 89-3 (Rahane 10, Vihari 12) Starc to Rahane, trying to slide the angle across and draw an edge, but the batsman is leaving. Picks up two runs from a straighter ball, flicked away, then opens the face and tries to glide a wider one but Green saves it with a sprawl at gully.

Updated

35th over: India 87-3 (Rahane 8, Vihari 12) Here is Lyon at last, should get two overs before the break. His first is all about giving it spin, turning the ball in, aiming at the front pad of Vihari, looking for a catch popped up on the leg side. Vihari comes down the track a couple of times, and has to be really careful to angle his bat and play over the ball, smothering it into the ground. No run.

34th over: India 87-3 (Rahane 8, Vihari 12) Starc bowls across Rahane and the batsman picks up an edge for four. Pushed at it really softly, gets the ball down and into the gap. Starc tries to tempt him by bowling wider, and Rahane does play at one but misses, then resists the next offering. Less than ten minutes to the break.

33rd over: India 83-3 (Rahane 4, Vihari 12) Hazlewood to Rahane, but can’t keep him trapped at the striker’s end for the whole over. Sends down one on the pads and Rahane can glance it away. Vihari played a really good long innings at the SCG against Aus A the other week. Different class of bowling but it showed a lot about his patience. Needs to do the same here, and is so far.

32nd over: India 82-3 (Rahane 3, Vihari 12) Starc into Vihari, hits him on the ankle swinging late, would have been missing leg stump and again he gets a leg bye. All the scoreboards have caught up with one another. Rahane clips a single to end the over.

Eighteen minutes to lunch. This has felt like a long session, it’s been tense throughout.

31st over: India 80-3 (Rahane 2, Vihari 12) Josh Hazlewood back on, still no spin, which makes decent sense given how well the fast bowlers have gone this morning. It is fairly special that you can generalise this bowling group as a fast-bowling attack, not as seamers or similar. They’re all right up there. A maiden, unsurprisingly, to Rahane who gets to leave a fair few deliveries.

30th over: India 80-3 (Rahane 2, Vihari 12) Now Rahane gets away, a short ball from Starc that he pulls to fine leg for a single. Starc’s first ball that wasn’t pitched up. When he reverts to that length he bowls too full, a swinging full toss that hits Vihari’s pad outside the line of leg stump and deflects for an extra. The TV scorers are still saying that Rahane’s leg bye was a run, while other sources are saying that Vihari’s leg bye was a run. Rahane now scores an actual run, his second, or third. Confused? Fair. The team score is what mostly matters, and we’re all in agreement on that.

29th over: India 77-3 (Rahane 0, Vihari 12) Green into a fifth over and Rahane finally gets a run, stabbed away for a single to midwicket. No he doesn’t, it’s called a leg bye. Vihari is hitting them better thus far, on-driving through midwicket for four, picking the gap nicely between that fielder and square leg.

28th over: India 70-3 (Rahane 0, Vihari 6) Here is Starc, wearing some noticeably red socks as he gallops in for his first over of the day. Left-arm over the wicket to a pair of right-handers, looking to swing the ball back in. And he gets the ball going very promptly indeed, drawing some exclamations from the cordon. Vihari sees a couple miss his off stump, then defends one well that was zeroing in on his front toe. Batting against this lot looks like very, very hard work.

27th over: India 70-3 (Rahane 0, Vihari 6) Green hits Rahane on the pad, huge appeal from the bowler but Paine gestures that it was probably clearing the stumps by two feet, which is an accurate observation. Hit up on the thigh pad and Umpire Reiffel shakes his head. Before that, Vihari picked up another triple, this time off the outside edge.

26th over: India 67-3 (Rahane 0, Vihari 3) Pat Cummins bowling his eighth over of the morning, he’s been going for an hour and a quarter. Mitchell Starc hasn’t even had a bowl yet. After all the tension so far it might be the plan for Starc to come in for some shock & awe. Lyon hasn’t bowled yet either. Rahane is facing, another maiden, including one that beats the edge.

25th over: India 67-3 (Rahane 0, Vihari 3) Cameron Green again, third over for him, I doubt he’ll bowl more than four on the spin, but it’s working nicely for him so far. Bowls a maiden to Vihari, giving him little to work with, pace still good too.

24th over: India 67-3 (Rahane 0, Vihari 3) Here’s Hanuma Vihari at No5, and he gets going quickly by driving Cummins straight for three runs. The two new players now need to rebuild.

WICKET! Pujara c Paine b Cummins 17, India 64-3

Cummins into his seventh over, and gets the big one! Attacks the pads, cutting in. Pujara has to stab at the ball to defend, to protect himself from an lbw shout, and in doing so he gets just enough of an edge on it to make it carry. The ball would have hit the ground in front of Wade again, but this time Paine dives across his first slip and takes a one-hander just above the grass. Holds it in his right glove.

23rd over: India 62-2 (Pujara 15, Rahane 0) Green keeps cranking the speed up, into the 140s now. Just a single for Pujara in the over.

Updated

22nd over: India 61-2 (Pujara 14) Last ball of the over the wicket falls. Ajinkya Rahane is next in, ahead of Vihari who was listed 4 on the team sheet I thought.

Updated

WICKET! Gill c Paine b Cummins 45, India 61-2

Cummins carries on, a long spell for him this morning with his sixth over, and it bears fruit! Pitched up to Gill, scrambled seam, a bit of movement, Gill plays the way he plays and goes after the cover drive, and only succeeds in a faint edge. The Ox says yes, and Gill has to go. Played well, his runs have made this a very different equation to the 20-2 that India might have had with a more conservative scoring approach. Though maybe by this stage the best play was to see out Cummins and then start over.

21st over: India 59-1 (Gill 44, Pujara 14) First bowling change today, Cameron Green to come on. This could be pivotal. The Indian players may relax a bit, seeing a young all-rounder bowl. Gill especially might want to go after him, having seen him already in the tour matches for Australia A. But Green has skills, and may be able to draw a mistake he can capitalise on. Extremely tall, six-foot-eight, gets bounce and can reach the 140s in pace. Starts around 138. Lands the ball on the seam, moves it away. Lots of bounce. Lots of encouragement. Bowls on the pads, Pujara flicks square and nearly caught! Burns in that leg gully position that we mentioned earlier, and he does really well to potentially save four. Dives to his left and slaps the ball to a standstill just after it bounces. They run two.

But this is really interesting. Pujara and Smith, two of the longest occupiers of the crease in the game, and both have been caught at leg slip a lot in the last couple of years. It’s become a real trend. Smith in the first innings here, most recently, and in Adelaide. Pujara in Adelaide, and in Melbourne two years ago, among others.

That was the fifth ball. The sixth? Edged in front of slip. Green won’t be the bowler to switch off to! Pujara plays so softly that his edge dies in front of Wade at slip. But two mistakes in two balls from a batsman who can stay out there for two days at a time: that’s a tick for Green.

20th over: India 57-1 (Gill 44, Pujara 12) Cummins to Gill, draws the edge but it costs him four. Gill goes softly enough at that to keep the edge down, and hits the gap in the cordon on the bounce. He’s not trying any big shots against Cummins for the rest of the over, defending from the crease to see it out.

19th over: India 53-1 (Gill 40, Pujara 12) Another Hazlewood maiden to Pujara. The bowler is using a line cutting in at Pujara quite consistently rather than bowling outside off, wonder what he’s trying to set up here. Short leg still in position.

18th over: India 53-1 (Gill 40, Pujara 12) Cummins to Gill, who is playing at everything. Steers to gully, no run. Straight-drives beautifully, but Cummins gets down and snatches the ball up in his follow-through, no run. Big swishing cover drive, misses, no run. Cut shot, straight to gully, no run. Eventually Gill writes off the over and plays a back-foot defence.

17th over: India 53-1 (Gill 40, Pujara 12) Hazlewood bowling, and Gill is looking to score. A trigger movement across his stumps, and that lets him drive a full ball off his pads though midwicket for a single. Pujara comes on strike, and just plays a little too early at Hazlewood, which is a rare deviation from technique. Because he pushes at the ball, the bat twists in his hands and the ball skews towards Head at short leg, but bounces wide. Pujara gets the soft hands going again next ball, and places it to midwicket. No run. Then Hazlewood bowls another beauty, coming in off the seam, beating the inside edge, and soaring over the middle stump by a few centimetres.

16th over: India 52-1 (Gill 39, Pujara 12) Pujara is back on Cummins watch. Gets a sharp bouncer that he goes under. But the couple of times that the bowling has got too straight, he’s been ready to score. Two more runs jabbed away off the line of his ribs. Cummins replies by beating the bat twice in a row.

15th over: India 50-1 (Gill 39, Pujara 10) And who needs Pujara to score when Gill is scoring so freely? Hazlewood bowls beautifully, gets the ball to deck back into him from back of a length, and again gets the inside edge, but this time for four! It flies well wide of Paine and away to fine leg. If Hazlewood can get that movement from a bit fuller, he’ll be thudding into the pads and beseeching the umpire. But the very next ball, as he pitches up, Gill drives him through cover for three! So positive. One ball after the error, puts it out of his mind completely and plays a positive shot. That brings Pujara on strike to someone else but Cummins for the first time today, and El Che flicks a straight ball square. He thinks he’s running two, but the younger Gill insists on three, calling loudly and pushing Pujara through. Love this attitude. Hazlewood has bowled three overs costing 6 runs, then his fourth cost him 10.

14th over: India 40-1 (Gill 32, Pujara 7) Cummins to Pujara, who edges in front of first slip! An interesting rejg to the cordon, with Wade at first and Smith at second. Where’s Joe Burns? Ah yes, he’s at leg gully. I think Wade hurt his knee last night chasing a ball and isn’t feeling so mobile. Pujara plays solidly through the rest of the over, no score. A good day for India is one with Pujara facing out a lot of maidens.

13th over: India 40-1 (Gill 32, Pujara 7) Shubman Gill on strike for the first time this morning, and he has the challenge of facing Josh Hazlewood under cloudy skies. First ball indicates that JH will be a handful, some swing into the pads of the right-hander that strikes him, but going down leg. Second ball, in the channel and going away off the seam. Third ball, decking in, inside edge and dropped! A big deviation from the inside, Paine is wrong-footed behind the stumps, has to dive back to his left and gets his left palm to the ball but isn’t in position and can’t hang on. He curses as he flicks it back towards the stumps. Fourth ball, flicked through midwicket for four! Gill will punch and counterpunch, and as he gets a straighter ball on a fuller length he takes full toll. India get past that 36 mark. What a contest. Gill sees out the over.

12th over: India 36-1 (Gill 28, Pujara 7) Cummins to start, and we go up to DRS with the first ball of the day! Perfect line from Cummins, has Pujara pushing forward, past the edge. Paine is convinced there’s a nick, his appeal is immediate. Cummins is less sure, same with the slips. But Paine goes upstairs on the evidence of his own ears. And he was right that there was a sound, but it happens to be the toe of the bat clipping Pujara’s pad. There’s a Hot Spot mark on the pad, and a slight burble on the soundwave graph, which a less experienced umpire would have given out. But Umpire Blocker Wilson up in the TV box says that it’s not a proper bat spike, and makes the correct call. As the standing umpire Bruce Oxenford had already done on the field. Drama to start.

The other part, of course, is the Australian bowling attack. The three quicks seem in fine fettle, and they’re doing something that very few groups of fast bowlers get to do: play match after match together. I think this is their 17th match together. Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon’s spin has been a big part of that too. He bowled outstandingly in the first innings at Adelaide. Do the home bowlers swing today in their team’s favour?

What are we looking out for today? Initially, it has to be the performance of Shubman Gill. It is pretty extraordinary that a player on debut walked in for the last few overs of Boxing Day, lost his opening partner within minutes, and then calmly decided to peel off five boundaries before stumps and race India’s score along by making 28 of the total of 36. He’ll resume today and could provide a spectacle.

Now, to local conditions. I am your eyes, your ears, your little goosebumps on your skin. We’re very close, you and I. It’s only of those blustery, moody Melbourne days. The day equivalent of a guy outside a bar who vaguely thinks he might fight someone but isn’t sure who or why. It’s hot and growing hotter, and there’s a lot of cloud overhead and some grumbly breeze. The forecast says it will grow hotter until the middle of the afternoon, then around that time or a bit later will come a cold change and some rain. So we may not have a complete day of cricket, but if we lose some time it should be a curtailment at the end rather than an interruption in the middle. Fingers crossed.

Once you’ve read the report, if you’d like to watch or hear about the first day in more detail, it so happens that a combination of me and Guardian cricket colleague Adam Collins took some time after play for exactly that. With bonus nice cinematography from Cameron Fink.

If you’d like to read a written report of yesterday’s main points, we have conveniently prepared one for your delectation.

Get in touch

As ever, communications at the Guardian OBO are open. We had a lot of cockle-warming correspondence yesterday from across the globe: people in Australia preparing for their day, people in the UK preparing to rest at the later end of their Christmas night, people in place in between. We’d love to hear what you’re up to, what your current few days involves, and what you’re making of the cricket. Email address and tweet thing are in the sidebar.

Preamble

Good morning from Melbourne, hale tidings of the appropriate hour to wherever else you may be in the world. If Boxing Day is cricket’s Christmas, then today is cricket Christmas’ Boxing Day, the day after the big event. The 27th, day two. And as many people who celebrate Christmas prefer the day after to the big event, so do many people who celebrate the Boxing Day Test think that day two is the connoisseur’s pick: it’s less hectic, less crowded, more laid back. In normal years, that is, when the crowds might drop from 90,000 to 60,000. But this year, the first day didn’t have the full mad-carnival feel given the crowd limits, and it was perfect. Will today be more perfect still?

Perhaps on the field, where by the end of today we’ll know what we have in the way of a contest. The Australians were bowled out for 195 yesterday. 195! The pitch had life in it, bless the work of Matt Page and his team of ground staff. Wickets fell with regularity. We saw some wonderful bowling. India only lost one wicket by the close, and they currently have a fateful 36 on the board.

So what happens today? Either they bat well enough to put Adelaide behind them, or the Australian pace attack does damage again. Those bowlers looked threatening in the last few overs last night, for sure. The series being a contest all rests on today. Let’s dance, shall we?

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Charli XCX: Popularity of Brat was ‘heavy, confusing and very vulnerable change’
The singer was speaking on BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show.
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Can a rhythm be owned? What a reggaeton lawsuit reveals about how copyright misunderstands music
A little-known American lawsuit could end up reshaping popular music. A US federal court is preparing to rule on a landmark copyright dispute. At its centre is an interesting question: can a short rhythmic pattern – one that appears in thousands of reggaeton tracks – be owned?
The Conversation
The Conversation
The Epstein Files Obsessives Keep Lying About Their Critics
Tara Palmeri insinuated that Michael Tracey disagrees with her because he's paid by Epstein associates. That's a lie.
Reason
Reason
Spanish-speaking Bad Bunny stirs lost Latin identity among Brazil’s music fans
Puerto Rican singer sells out concerts in Portuguese-speaking Brazil with breakthrough ‘anti-American agenda of emancipation’
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Zombie Flower: Why Is Epstein Files Trending With It?
The internet has a way of blending mystery, speculation, and breaking headlines into viral storms. Recently, the phrase “Zombie Flower” began circulating alongside renewed discussions about the Epstein files. Social media users started connecting dots, raising questions, and fueling curiosity. But is there an actual connection or is this another…
Times Life
Times Life
"We wake up in the morning and everybody just texts about how much we miss him." As Foo Fighters launch new album Your Favorite Toy, Dave Grohl reflects on life without Taylor Hawkins
Foo Fighters' new album Your Favorite Toy will be released in April
Louder
Louder
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play