India solid in reply to Australia's 451

India 120 for 1 (Rahul 67, Vijay 42*) trail Australia 451 (Smith 178*, Maxwell 104, Jadeja 5-124) by 331 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Glenn Maxwell hugs Steven Smith after reaching his maiden Test hundred © Associated Press

Steven Smith‘s latest epic, Glenn Maxwell‘s first Test hundred and a spell of the highest quality from Pat Cummins showed Australia’s strengths even as India fought back with a solid opening stand on the second day in Ranchi. Some spiky help from the lower order lifted the tourists to 451 before Cummins extracted life from the friendliest pitch of the series to defeat KL Rahul.

M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara fought their way to the close, but the Australians still hold a first-innings lead of 331 on a pitch expected to get harder for batting from here on in. Virat Kohli, inconvenienced by a shoulder injury, will be able to bat wherever he chooses due to his problem being deemed external having resulted from a heavy landing when trying to stop a boundary on the first day of this match.

Kohli was confined to the hosts’ viewing area and treatment table due to a shoulder strain as the tourists pushed on beyond the day’s midpoint with a sensible mixture of attack and defence. Smith sailed on past 150 to the highest tally by an Australian captain in India, with only one instant of uncertainty when he edged Ishant Sharma short of Wriddhiman Saha. Otherwise he was in total control, and might still be batting now were it not for a lack of partners.

Full report to follow…

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.


Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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