India elects to bat in second Test vs Australia

His magnificent exhibition of off spin bowling turned out to be as captivating as any bowled by a foreign bowler on Indian soil. The front foot was reserved for “dangerous” deliveries.

One that got away: Virat Kohli reacts to missing a catch off Matt Renshaw. I tried to get to 50 as slow as possible. “But it did not work today”, said top scorer KL Rahul. Mitchell Starc tested him initially, O’Keefe continued to trouble him and for some odd reason, he played away from his body far too often against the off-spin from Lyon.

Intense in the middle: Virat Kohli and Steve Smith have a history of trading barbs. His best figures in an innings were 5 wickets for 47 runs and best figures in a match was 7/78.

The hosts were bundled out by Australia for 105 and 107 in their two innings in the series opener in Pune and scored 189 in their first essay after winning the toss and batting first in Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

“There was a bit of talk but I think that’s because they’re trying to unnerve each other (Smith and Kohli) and get under the skin”, he said. That last hour was big for me, I had my pads on so this is the first time I have smiled. With the field spread out wide, he clobbered Indian bowlers and steered Australia from a shaky 205 for nine to a fighting total of 260 on a pitch that was dry and deteriorating. Lyon has gone from strength to strength after that. “I am confident that we will come back in this Test match”.

“He’s just thinking negatively because there’s men around the bat”. Lee also has two five-wicket hauls against India.

And the second of his scalps was the prized wicket of Kohli for 12. “We are confident that we will do well”, Pujara said after second day’s play.

“I want to do well against the best players and prove that to myself”.

“Hopefully we get a substantial lead out there and the bowlers can do a successful job, like they did in the first”. Prepare a turner. That perhaps is the word now on the grounds around the cricketing world.

One of the opponents to praise Lyon very early in his global career was South African Graeme Smith. They had the fielders back right from the first ball.

If he was not coming under attack from Kohli’s verbal barrage, then it was Ashwin’s fizzing off-breaks and pace pair Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav’s fierce spells of reverse-swing threatening stumps. Of the six it lost, three did not even return umpire’s call, a clear estimate of how wishful the thinking behind them was. “The job is not done as yet”. Traditionally, it looks good for the first innings. From the moment the Australian captain took guard, he was under siege.