Australian spinners led by the peerless Nathan Lyon strangled the star-studded Indian batting line-up as the hosts struggled to reach 179 for seven at tea on the second day of the second Test here on Saturday.
Lyon (5/41 in 20 overs) led Australia’s fightback with his 22nd five-wicket haul as the Indian batters’ weakness against spin bowlers was exposed once again.
At the break, all-rounders Ravichandran Ashwin (11 batting) and Axar Patel (28 batting) were trying to stem the rot with a 40-run eighth-wicket partnership. At tea, India remained 84 runs behind Australia’s first innings score of 263.
Virat Kohli (44 off 84 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 74 balls) did steady the innings in the post-lunch session by adding 59 runs for the fifth wicket but Todd Murphy (1/37 in 14 overs), in his second Test, and debutant left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann (1/64 in 20 overs) dismissed the duo in quick succession to put the visitors on top.
There are still no demons in the track even though cracks have appeared to make the ball turn and jump. The difference between the Australian spin attack’s better show compared to Nagpur certainly would be the pace off the Kotla track.
Credit must be given to Lyon and the two young spinners for keeping up the pressure despite losing three referrals in the first hour of the second morning.
Kohli, who looked composed and assured of a big one, would consider himself unlucky that he had to head back due to an umpire’s call.
Kuhnemann’s arm ball seemed to be brushing the leg-bail and India’s No. 1 batter was looking distraught as there was no conclusive evidence whether the ball hit the pad first or bat.
Before that, a Murphy slider had caught India’s most consistent Test batter Jadeja plumb in front.
KS Bharat (5), who hasn’t really looked a part as far as his batting is concerned, tried an ugly sweep and was caught by slip fielder Steve Smith to give Lyon his fifth victim.
In the morning session, KL Rahul’s bad patch continued while Cheteshwar Pujara had a forgettable first innings outing in his 100th Test.
Only skipper Rohit Sharma (32) looked in good touch as a vintage Lyon was in his element, troubling the top-order repeatedly.
The Kotla track had a bit more pace off the track compared to Jamtha, and hence, Lyon’s deliveries at times hurried the batters. The bowler giving a bit more air also created doubts in the minds of the batters.
There were four leg before decisions and all happened when the batters played on the front foot.
Rahul (17), who survived two DRS appeals by Australia, was trapped leg-before as Lyon tossed one from round the wicket and got it to deviate enough and find his pads.
Rahul’s run of failures continued and questions would now be asked whether the Indian team management is being unfair by forcing Shubman Gill to cool his heels in the dugout.
Rohit seemed to carry from where he had left in the first Test and was also playing the sweep shot to good effect. However, he played across the line to a straighter one from Lyon and was castled in the process.
Rarely has Pujara walked into bat amid such fanfare — the 20,000 plus Kotla crowd chanting his name — but his milestone match turned out to be an anti-climax as he failed to bother the scorers.
In the case of Pujara, it was another flighted delivery and it turned back enough with the orthodox Rajkot man trying to play a half forward defensive stroke. The turn was enough for the umpire to raise his dreaded finger.
Coming back from an injury, Shreyas Iyer (4) looked confident in his brief stay at the crease but a stroke of bad luck brought about his downfall.
He played towards the leg-side and Peter Handscomb latched on to a reflex catch which wouldn’t get stuck nine out of 10 times. Handscomb actually fumbled but the ball simply got stuck between his legs to see Iyer’s back
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