Adelaide: Marnus Labuschagne finally regained form with a composed half-century before being overshadowed by Travis Head’s flamboyance as Australia negotiated the Indian pacers to reach 191 for four at tea on day two of the second Test here Saturday.
Head picked the gaps with ease on way to an unbeaten 53 off 67 balls to keep Australia ahead in the contest after India grabbed three wickets in the first session. The hosts were ahead by 11 runs, having gone past India’s first innings total of 180.
Labuschagne (64), whose place in the team was debated prior to this game owing to his prolonged lean run with the bat, registered his 26th half-century and then launched himself into a flurry of boundaries in what were worrying signs for India.
But promising all-rounder Nitish Reddy cut short Labuschagne’s innings as the batter tried to guide him through gully only for Yashasvi Jaiswal to hold on to the catch.
Looking to fight their way back into the game after Australia’s dominance on the opening day, India got an early breakthrough through who else but Jasprit Bumrah four overs into play.
Playing in only his second Test after a forgettable debut in Perth, Nathan McSweeney had no answer to one of many excellent deliveries from Bumrah, which straightened a fraction after landing on the perfect length and all the batter could do was get a little nick while trying to defend after getting stuck on the crease.
McSweeney walked back after a hard-fought 39, a far better effort following his twin failures in the series opener, but Steve Smith’s poor run of form continued as the former captain got out in the most unfortunate fashion after a brief stay at the crease.
Smith looked to flick a Bumrah delivery tickling down the leg side but only ended up edging it to the keeper Rishabh Pant who completed a neat catch diving to his left.
As Ravi Shastri said on air, India got Smith in this fashion in the last tour as well, by attacking his middle and leg stump.
Unlike the first day, when they were guilty of bowling outside the off-stump way too often, the Indian pacers targeted the stumps in the initial phase of second day’s play and they were also rewarded for it in the form of those early wickets.
Smith’s dismissal, for two off 11 balls, brought into the middle Travis Head and Bumrah welcomed him with one that straightened off the deck and whizzed past the outside edge.
Head, however, moved on quickly from the close shave and got off the mark with a cracking boundary off the Indian pace spearhead, finding the gap between mid-off and extra cover.
