India’s spinner Ravindra Jadeja put on his career-best performance to lead his team to a six wickets victory over Australia in the second Test, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar series.
In the second Test of the highly charged Border-Gavaskar series, the Indian cricket team defeated Australia handily by a margin of six wickets. India secured the victory in three days, following strong showings from spin-twins Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to grab a commanding 2-0 series lead.
The victory, which saw India gain essential points, significantly increased their chances of making it to the World Test Championship final. India is currently standing in second place with a PCT of 64.06 and Australia is still in first place with a PCT of 66.67 but the point difference between the two reduced significantly. With a PCT of 53.33, Sri Lanka ranks third overall, ahead of South Africa and England.
India vs Australia Match Summary
After blowing the chance to establish a sizable first-innings lead on Day 2, Australia began their second innings with an aggressive approach, scoring 61 for 1 in 12 overs. As he drove Ashwin through covers on Day 3, Travis Head seemed to be in the mood to continue in the same vein. Yet in the same over, Ashwin ignited Australia’s fall when he dismissed the left-handed Head with a beautiful delivery.
The majority of the Australian batsman confused between sweep and reverse sweep and paid a steep price. Australia still appeared determined to assault India as Steve Smith smashed a magnificent straight boundary against Jadeja. However, Smith attempted a sweep shot against Ashwin but lost his wicket after he entirely misread the delivery.
Marnus Labuschagne was looking confident but a brilliant delivery from Jadeja snuck below his vertical bat and struck the stumps. Australia was facing a threat of losing the Test as they fell from 95 for 4 to 95 for 7 in the space of 10 deliveries after Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, and Pat Cummins lost their wickets to Ashwin and Jadeja..
Australia was unable to stop the slide as Alex Carey, who also tried a sweep shot, became Jadeja’s fifth wicket of the innings. Nathan Lyon interrupted the pattern of this odd shot selection, but he ultimately lost his wicket to Jadeja’s delivery. Jadeja maintained the momentum by dismissing Matthew Kuhnemann, Australia’s No. 11 batsman, to become the second spinner after Anil Kumble to record five bowled outs in a single inning. With that, Australia folded for 113 runs in the morning session, giving India a goal of 115 runs.
Opening the Indian inning, KL Rahul attempted to flick Nathan Lyon’s delivery, but it bounced off the short-legged fielder and went straight to the keeper. Australia continued the onslaught, taking out Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer in quick succession to reduce India’s inning to 88 for 4. Pujara and KS Bharat, however, established a small but crucial partnership to score the final 27 runs, preventing a collapse similar to the one Australia had earlier in the day.