India’s struggles kept on mounting on Day 2 as Travis Head posts ton

Things only went further downhill for Team India as their batters failed to impress on Day 2 despite a fightback from their fast-bowling duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. Starting the day at 86/1, Australia lost a couple of early wickets in the form of Nathan McSweeney (39) and Steve Smith (2) as Jasprit Bumrah was too hot to handle.

However, Marnus Labuschagne (64) fought back and despite India making headways with another double blow that got rid of the former and Alex Carey (15), Travis Head’s belligerence pushed India on the backfoot. The southpaw single-handedly called the shots for Australia while India struggled to find their rhythm.

By the time Mohammed Siraj could get rid of Head (140), the damage was almost irreversible for Team India. The duo of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah shared eight wickets between them as Australia was bundled out for 337, posting a monumental lead of 157 runs.

Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal’s feisty start, things went downhill for Team India in very quick succession. They lost KL Rahul (7), Jaiswal (24), Shubman Gill (28), Virat Kohli (11) and Rohit Sharma (6) by the time stumps were called. India finished the day in a wobbling position as they were reduced to 128/5 with Nitish Kumar Reddy staying unbeaten on 15.

Brief Scores:

India – 180/10 (Nitish Kumar Reddy – 42, Mitchell Starc – 6/48)

Australia – 337/10 (Travis Head – 140, Jasprit Bumrah – 4/61)

India – 128/5 (Nitish Kumar Reddy – 15*, Pat Cummins – 2/41)