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What's the story?
Virat Kohli the number one batsmen in Test cricket was at his best again. Against a challenging Australian bowling lineup, the Indian captain rose to the occasion and scored a half-century on Day 2. This was Virat Kohli 19th fifty-plus score of the year and the Indian fans would love to see the skipper reach the three-digit mark.
Virat Kohli came into the middle as the Indian openers - Murali Vijay and KL Rahul yet again failed to make significant contributions to the score. Just before lunch break, Vijay, the first Indian batsmen to get dismissed, was bowled for a duck, thanks to Mitchell Starc's inswinger.
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KL Rahul soon followed Murali Vijay back to the hut after he was cleaned up by a Jos Hazlewood yorker after making just 2 runs.
After the departure of both the openers, Cheteswara Pujara teamed up with the Indian captain and the two have added 74 runs for the third wicket. Pujara, as usual, was calm and composed throughout his innings but out for 24 trying to score runs off a Starc's delivery straying down the leg-side.
With Pujara's dismissal, the responsibility to take India ahead went into the hand of the Indian captain and vice-captain. Rahane and Kohli did not let the aspirations of the Indian contingent down as they added 90 runs for the fourth wicket before the end of the day.
In the partnership between the two, Rahane was the aggressor as he did not hold himself back from playing attacking shots. At the end of Day 2, Rahane and Kohli were unbeaten at 51 and 82 as India trail Australia by 154 runs.
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Tim Paine and Pat Cummins resumed the play for Australia on Day 2 with the scorecard reading 277-6 at the start. India had just 10 overs old second new ball at their disposal but did not make any use of it in the first hour.
The Indian bowlers allowed Australia to add 59 runs for the seventh wicket before Umesh Yadav sent Cummins to the pavilion. India took the last four wickets for 16 runs but Australia already out on a decent score of 326 in the first innings.
The pitch at the Optus stadium has a considerable grass cover but the cracks have already started developing on the pitch. Australia will be happy with their first innings score as the pitch has a lot to offer for the bowlers and they can induce a collapse at any time.
India, on the other hand, would want to add as many runs as possible in the first innings itself as the pitch could offer a lot of turn, making life difficult for the batsmen.
Heart of the matter
The Indian openers have not been performing so well in recently, particularly in the away Test. India had three regular Test openers - Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, and Shikhar Dhawan - at the start of the year. During the England tour, Vijay was dropped midway through the series after repeated failures. Dhawan too got a similar treatment after failing in England as he got dropped from the side.
After getting dropped from the side, Vijay went back to county cricket and had a good stint with Essex which helped him make his way back into the side. The comeback is not going according to plans for Vijay and he might even get dropped for the next match. On the other hand, KL Rahul too is to not having a good time in the middle but might get another chance in the next match.
Here's how Twitter reacted to Day 2 of the second Test between India and Australia:
Twitter reactions
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