India’s captain Rohit Sharma believes the partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli and then Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin were the game-changing moments in the second Test match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi after the hosts won by six wickets.
Jadeja and Kohli added 59 runs on the second day when India were in a spot of bother at 66-4 after Australia posted a competitive score of 263 runs in the first innings. Furthermore, India found themselves in more trouble as they were reduced to 139-7 in the first dig.
However, Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin bailed their team out of the jail as the all-rounders added 114 runs for the eighth wicket, the highest partnership of the series so far.
India fell one short of Australia’s total, mainly because of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, who scored 74 and 37 runs respectively. Australia then looked in a strong position at the end of day two as they were 61-1 but the visitors lost their remaining nine wickets for only 52 runs on day three’s morning to skittle out for a paltry score of 113, giving a modest target of 115 to the home team.
India took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series after Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and KS Bharat made vital contributions with the bat. With this win, the Rohit Sharma-led team has retained the Border-Gavaskar series and has strengthened their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship final.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “Fantastic result for us. Looking at how things were yesterday, the way we came back and finished our job was great. Even if we were just one run behind, I felt we were trailing because we had to bat last. I think the bowlers were fantastic, to take 9 wickets today morning is commendable. And then we finished the job with the bat. On a pitch like this, people need to do something different. We were prepared for them coming out and playing shots.”
He added, “Our idea was to not panic and just hit the right areas, waiting for the mistake to happen and that’s exactly what happened. Every game you play in this type of weather, there is some moisture. What I noticed is there is a lot to offer in the first session, but as it goes on it gets slower and there isn’t enough bite. So our focus was keeping it tight in the morning, and these guys are the masters of bowling in these conditions. (Game-changing moment) There are lot of moments across four innings, but I thought the partnership between Jadeja and Virat, and then Axar-Ash was brilliant. I think that’s a big help because of the balance we have created for ourselves.”
The third Test match of the series will be played at the Holkar Stadium, Indore from March 1.
