India go 2-0 up; inch closer to the WTC final

The world went from hopeful to despair for the Aussies as they crumbled like a house of cards in front of the Indian spin attack that stitched its way through the blazes and came back from what seemed like a nervy start the previous evening.

Starting the day with a lead of 62 runs, Australia soon felt the heat of the Indian turners as Ravichandran Ashwin dealt an early double whammy removing Travis Head and Steven Smith. Marnus Labuschagne who looked solid till then was cleaned up by Jadeja and Australia were suddenly staring down the barrel.

In a surprising manner, the visitors completely lost plot of the game and were being harried and hustled by the Indians with Ravindra Jadeja being the relentless tormentor, prising out turn from the Delhi surface that left the Australian lower-middle order completely bamboozled as India paved their path for what was heading to be a reckoning win.

Australia lost their last 9 wickets within 119 balls and a paltry 58 runs as Jadeja bagged 7 scalps to finish with his best Test figures while Ashwin claimed the other three to set a target of 115 for India.

The Indian batters had a bit of a tough time early too as KL Rahul was dismissed early but Cheteshwar Pujara once again steadied the ship as he paired well with Rohit Sharma to help India get the start. After an unfortunate run out that sent the Indian skipper back, Virat Kohli stitched an important cameo that saw India travelling half the way with very minimal work to be completed. Despite the fall of Shreyas Iyer a few knots ahead of the finish line, Cheteshwar Pujara ensured that he was getting the job done. 

Srikar Bharat stormed a phenomenal knock in the end to help Pujara’s resilient show. In a poetic moment of justice, Cheteshwar Pujara administered the coup de grace in his 100th Test as India saw off their opposition convincingly, getting one step closer to the WTC final. Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged as the man of the match for the game-changing spell in the second innings. With this win, India retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for a record third consecutive time.