Spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin picked three wickets as India's bowlers stole the show in the second session on day two of the pink-ball Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on Friday.
At the tea break, Australia's score read 92/5 with Marnus Labuschagne (unbeaten on 46) and skipper Tim Paine (unbeaten on 9) at the crease. While the session saw Australia score 57 runs from 29 overs, the visitors picked three important middle-order wickets to walk straight back into the game.
Starting the session with the game slightly in India's favour, Steve Smith and Labuschagne had the message written loud and clear on the wall -- bat long and build a partnership. But Ashwin dismissed Smith in his first over as the batsman went back to a ball that pitched and straightened just enough to take the edge of the former skipper's bat. Ajinkya Rahane at slips made no mistake as Ashwin went on a Tahir-style celebratory run.
Travis Head joined Labuschagne and the two looked to rebuild Australia's innings. But Ashwin had other plans as he kept troubling southpaw Head. While Head did survive a close LBW appeal, he wasn't lucky for long as he gave Ashwin the simplest of caught and bowled chances soon. Ashwin lapped it up as the Indians celebrated another crucial middle-order wicket.
With Head (7) back in the hut, all-rounder Cameron Green walked out to the middle and while he looked good during his 11-run stay, skipper Kohli took a brilliant catch to send him back in the 41st over. It was a rare bad delivery from Ashwin, but Kohli made up for it with a brilliant catch diving to his right at mid-wicket. Skipper Paine and Labuschagne then held fort to take the hosts to the tea break.
Earlier, India managed to add just 11 runs to their overnight score as Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc made short work of the Indian lower-order. While Starc finished with figures of 4/53, Cummins returned figures of 3/48.
While the first hour looked a little disappointing for the Indians, Jasprit Bumrah handed India the upper hand with the ball towards the close of the opening session as he sent back the Australian openers-- Matthew Wade (8) and Joe Burns (8) -- before the break to bring the visitors right back in the game.
Brief Scores: India 244 (Kohli 74; Starc 4/53); Australia 92/5 (Labuschagne 46*; Ashwin 3/27)
( With inputs from ANI )
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