Australia made a fighting score against the host team in their first innings on day 2. Touring team scored 428 after losing all wickets and it became possible thanks to Australian wicketkeeper Tim Paine’s struggling 92 in the middle order position.
Tim Paine is disappointed after failing to get his maiden test century. He was eight runs away from his first test century before being trapped by Zaheer Khan. Playing 196-ball 92, Tim Paine showed his test temperament. It was his maiden test century in 3rd test.
He also made 53-run partnership with opener Shane Watson in the sixth wicket stand. It helped the Australian cricket team to move to a safe position. If Australia wins or at least draw the match then all the credit should go to Shane Watson because of his brilliant innings of 126 from 338 balls, including 10 boundaries.
After the departure of Shane Watson, Tim Paine made partnership with Mitchell Johnson. Their 82-run partnership in the seventh wicket stand took Australia from 6-275 to 7-357.
This time, none other spinners except the Indian pace spearhead, Zaheer Khan, suffered Australian cricket team. He finished the first innings 5 for 94. It was his 10th 5-wicket haul. Harbhajan Singh also played well as he took three wickets for 114 off 49 overs. Pragyan Ojha took one wicket and the remaining wicket was trapped by run out. Ishant Sharma bowled four overs on second day due to his knee injury.
In reply, India scored 110 for 2. Mitchell Johnson took these two wickets.
Rahul Dravid and Ishant Sharma remained not out at stumps at the end of day two. India made good start as the host team scored 81 runs losing the wicket of Gautam Gambhir in 13.2 overs. Virender Sehwag scored an aggressive 54-ball 59 with 10 boundaries.
Losing the first two wickets, India is now under pressure. The luck of Indian cricket team will largely depend on the remaining batsmen. It will be interesting to see if Indian batsmen can chase the target successfully.
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