When Nathan Lyon had taken five wickets on a challenging Delhi ground to convert what appeared to be a significant deficit into a one-inning shootout of a Test with Australia holding the benefit of bowling last, India’s sturdy lower order, led by Axar Patel, once again played a vital role.
When Australia’s opening-day 263 took on impressive proportions, the home team had fallen to 139 for 7, with Lyon inflicting the majority of the damage in the first two sessions.
Axar and R Ashwin, though, went on to put up 114 runs for the eighth wicket, reducing the margin to just one run.
By the end, Australia had extended that to 62. Travis Head, who started in place of the removed David Warner, got off to a very aggressive start, but they lost Usman Khawaja to a spectacular paddle-sweep catch at leg slip.
Marnus Labuschagne, however, gave Australia’s purpose a clear indication by hitting three fours off Ravindra Jadeja in a single over.
But if not for Axar, the game would have probably already left India. He produced a fantastic innings, with some of his off-side strokeplay standing out, especially a flat cover-drive six against Todd Murphy.
When he was seeking to get loose after R Ashwin left the field, it took a quick catch from Pat Cummins at mid-on to put an end to things.
While working as a night watchman in Nagpur, Ashwin had enjoyed using his position to No. 3, but neither he nor Axar would appear out of place higher up the food chain.
Although Axar didn’t seem to be too concerned as he continued to make runs similar to the 84 he scored in the first Test, Ashwin took the responsibility of being the older player seriously.
The first part of the day had seen a quite different appearance of things. After a strong opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, Australia made a breakthrough, and the game changed dramatically.
As Rahul caught, who was under pressure, with a ball that straightened from around the wicket, Lyon made the first mistake. After that, he bowled a fantastic delivery that slipped into the stumps to dismiss Rohit.
In his 100th Test, Cheteshwar Pujara was praised as he approached the bowling crease, but he was uneasy for only a little while until Lyon caught him lbw for a duck with a bold DRS call that Alex Carey initiated after Australia had blown their first two reviews with unsatisfactory, speculative requests. By the 25th over, they had utilised them all.
This time, the ball appeared to have first touched Pujara’s front pad as it smashed halfway up the middle, giving India a score of 54 for 3.
Shortly after, Australia’s situation improved when Peter Handscomb did an outstanding job of maintaining his calm at short leg and holding a catch as it bounced off his body following a powerful flick by Shreyas Iyer. Lyon had four after a first test that was relatively challenging, despite the fact that luck was not on his side.
India then maintained its composure over the course of the following 20 overs as Virat Kohli, who appeared extremely secure and had excellent length judgement, formed a strong partnership with Ravindra Jadeja, who played carefully up until his lbw dismissal to Murphy, which sparked another wave of wickets.
Nevertheless, third umpire Richard Illingworth said it was pad first and only clipped the leg stump because there was enough evidence to overturn the on-field call. In the locker room, Kohli was still processing it as he viewed replays.
Kuhnemann, who had just arrived in India a week earlier, claimed a prominent target, and overall the left-arm spinner played great in his debut.
When Lyon finished off his five-wicket haul by having KS Bharat caught at slip off a gloved sweep, Australia was poised to take a three-figure lead and maybe the match. India’s batting, though, was far from over.
Axar faced Kuhnemann shortly before tea and immediately hit consecutive balls for four and six to set the tone, but it was the defense’s assurance as much as the attacking strokes that stood out.
If Steven Smith hadn’t been able to maintain a low stance and another difficult chance from Ashwin had gone past Matt Renshaw at leg slip, he might have been caught at slip on 28 off Lyon.
After knocking Kuhnemann over deep midwicket for six to reach his fifty, Axar smashed back-to-back boundaries against Cummins to reach the century stand.
Although maybe not totally on purpose, the new ball ended Australia’s innings just as it was becoming a bit desperate. Axar could hardly believe Cummins was able to hold onto his well-hit drive at mid-on after Ashwin clipped a leg-stump half-volley to square leg, where Renshaw snatched it out of the air.
The sides were unable to be separated after two innings, but Australia took the initiative in the crucial second half.