India’s six-wicket victory against Australia on the third day of the second Test gave them a commanding 2-0 lead in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. All ten of Australia’s wickets in their second innings were taken by the spin combo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin for the Indian squad, as the tourists battled on the difficult New Delhi ground.
Australia was bowled out for 113 runs, an easy goal for India to achieve, with to Jadeja’s career-high seven for 42 and Ashwin’s three wickets. After losing opener KL Rahul in the second over, India’s chase faltered as they were reduced to 88 for four. Virat Kohli, who just reached 25,000 runs in international cricket, was stumped for 20, while captain Rohit Sharma was run out after a fluent 31. The chase was led by Cheteshwar Pujara and Srikar Bharat from the 27th over on. In his 100th Test, Pujara led India with 31 runs, including the game-winning four, as the home team retained the bilateral trophy for the fourth straight series.
Earlier, Australia’s second innings started on 61-1 and they scored 52 runs before Jadeja and Ashwin orchestrated a dramatic collapse. Travis Head, opening for a concussed David Warner, sent a message of aggression by driving Ashwin’s third delivery of the day over the fence. However, the off-spinner got his own back three deliveries later when he dragged Head (43) forward and induced an edge, which Srikar Bharat gathered behind the stumps. Following Jadeja’s dismissal of Marnus Labuschagne (35), Australia’s batting collapsed, with nine of the eleven batters scoring a single digit.
Usman Khawaja scored 81, which was the highest score for the visiting team, while Nathan Lyon took seven wickets for Australia. India is very near to clinching a position in the World Test Championship final after sweeping Australia in three consecutive series. On March 1, the third Test will begin in Indore.
