India vs Aus, Day 1, 2nd Test: Khawaja strikes Unbeaten Fifty, Aus 94/3 at Lunch

Usman Khawaja, Australia’s left-handed opener, scored an undefeated fifty with superb footwork and Strokeplay. However, India retaliated with triple strikes to leave Australia at 94/3 in 25 overs at lunch on day one of the second Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.

Australia survived a blazing opening spell from Mohammed Siraj for a 50-run opening partnership on a pitch that gave spinners enough of turn, bounce, and grip. But India bounced back with three wickets at the close of the first session on day one, thanks to Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.

Shami had Warner trapped lbw after conceding four byes down leg on the first ball of the session. But, the left-handed hitter promptly requested a review and was saved when replays revealed the inside edge.

Khawaja, on the other hand, was off the mark with a good look on Mohammed Siraj’s overpitched delivery. He then took advantage of fuller balls from Shami by hitting two boundaries through the off-side gap.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who bowled from around the wicket, kept Warner on a tight leash. Despite utilising his feet to counter the ace off-spinner, Warner was befuddled as Ashwin found turn, bounce, and grip. He did, however, get off to a good start with his twenty-first delivery.

When Warner punched Siraj over the cover gap, Khawaja danced down the pitch to loft Ashwin over mid-off for six. Though Shami and Siraj posed tough questions to the openers, Khawaja and Warner managed to grab a couple of boundaries as the opening stand reached 50 runs.

But Warner’s 44-ball vigil was cut short when Shami, who was coming in from around the wicket, moved the left-handed batsman forward and found some movement to draw the outside edge, and keeper KS Bharat grabbed the catch to his left.

Khawaja excelled at sweeping as well as bringing the reverse-sweep and slog-sweep, taking boundaries away from Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Marnus Labuschagne started with a leaning drive off Shami, then whipped off Ashwin and swept off Jadeja.

But in the 23rd over, Ashwin struck twice in three balls. Labuschagne was first to fall, as Ashwin got an off-break delivery to spin in and beat the right-handers inside edge to trap him lbw in front of middle stump.

He then closed the over by trapping Smith with a slider which the right-handed batter tried to meet by coming forward but gave a low catch behind to Bharat. Khawaja got to overturn an lbw decision off Jadeja and reached his fifty in the final over before lunch.

Playing XIs-

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat (wicketkeeper), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins (captain), Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Matt Kuhnemann

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