Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli combined to frustrate Australia for an entire session yesterday as India held the whip-hand at 215-2 at the close of a grinding opening day of the third Test.
Pujara raised his 21st Test half-century to be 68 not out at stumps, with Kohli on 47 as Australia’s bowlers endured a day of toil on a placid Melbourne Cricket Ground wicket after the India captain won the toss and elected to bat.
Opener Mayank Agarwal enjoyed a stellar entry to Test cricket, scoring 76 to record the highest-ever innings by an India debutant on Australian soil before being dismissed on the last ball before tea.
Photo: AP
The Karnataka batsman eclipsed the 51 scored by Dattu Phadkar against Don Bradman’s team in Sydney in 1947, raising his hand for a permanent role in the top order after replacing the out-of-form Murali Vijay.
“I wouldn’t complain about the pitch, it was good to bat on,” the 27-year-old told reporters. “It was a little bit fast early on, but then it was slow ... I am happy, but obviously I would have liked more [runs].”
The Boxing Day crowd of 73,516 was a record attendance for a match featuring India in Australia and traveling fans from the subcontinent roared their applause as Kohli and Pujara combined for a 92-run stand and strode off unbeaten at stumps.
Photo: EPA-EFE
However, a day after Christmas festivities, home supporters were left flat and the Australia bowlers frustrated by the drop-in pitch that offered very little movement in an echo of the wicket that produced a dull draw against England last year.
With the four-match series poised at 1-1, India’s slow, but disciplined accumulation left them well-placed to build a big total and tire Australia’s bowlers in baking heat forecast for day two.
“We’ve been able to restrict them quite well with runs. We didn’t get the wickets we probably would have liked,” Australia batsman Travis Head said. “We’ve got to make sure we bowl the same way we did and things can change. I don’t think we’re far away.”
Only Pat Cummins was rewarded for Australia, the paceman claiming the wicket of new opener Hanuma Vihari and ending Agarwal’s 161-ball knock by having him glove a catch down the leg-side.
Vihari, promoted to replace the out-of-sorts Lokesh Rahul, had a less successful debut as an opener and was snared for eight off 66 balls by a rising delivery that pinged off his gloves before being caught by Aaron Finch in the slips.
That was the sole highlight until the brink of tea for Tim Paine’s side, with Agarwal and Pujara holding firm in an 83-run stand.
With the pitch doing little for the seamers, spinner Nathan Lyon was introduced in the eighth over of the morning, but was also unable to conjure a breakthrough throughout.
Agarwal smashed two fours past the bowler after lunch, the second a glorious straight drive to raise his half-century off 95 balls.
He slog-swept Lyon for six after the drinks break, before eventually falling to Cummins at 123-2.
Kohli joined Pujara in the middle and feasted on the aging ball, punching it to the fence with a trio of exquisite, wristy on-drives among his six fours.
Desperate for a wicket, Australia threw away a review for leg before wicket when Lyon rapped Kohli’s pads when the captain was on 32.
After the second new ball was taken, a more realistic chance went begging when Kohli, on 47, nicked a Mitchell Starc delivery only for wicketkeeper Paine to grass a low, one-handed chance.
NEW ZEALAND VS SRI LANKA
Reuters
Tim Southee rescued New Zealand with the bat yesterday and then dragged his side back into the match with the ball after career-best figures by Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal threatened to dominate the first day of the second Test in Christchurch.
Southee counterattacked with wicketkeeper B.J. Watling to blast 68 from 65 balls and take New Zealand from the depths of despair on 64-6 after Lakmal had destroyed the top order on a green wicket at Hagley Oval.
The 30-year-old Southee and Watling (46) combined for 108-runs as New Zealand were dismissed for 178 with Lakmal finishing with 5-54.
First Test centurion Angelo Mathews was on 27 with Roshen Silva (15) as the visitors were 88-4 at stumps, with neither team holding the advantage as both seek to win the two-match series with victory in Christchurch.
The first Test in Wellington ended last week in a damp draw after virtually all of the final day’s play was washed out.
The 31-year-old Lakmal, utilizing the overcast, cool conditions and green pitch, had reduced the hosts to 36-4 after Dinesh Chandimal had won the toss and wasted little time in choosing to field.
Lakmal went to lunch having bowled 12 successive overs with figures of 4-18.
Southee then belted six fours and three sixes to resurrect his side’s fortunes.
His dismissal, to a brilliant, one-handed leaping catch by Danushka Gunathilaka at short mid-wicket, sparked another collapse with the last three wickets adding just six runs.
Southee then took the first three Sri Lankan wickets to reduce them to 21-3 inside 10 overs.
The second victim — Chandimal for 6 — moved him to 234 Test wickets and third on New Zealand’s all-time list.
Silva and Mathews played and missed several times, but saw their side through to stumps.
SOUTH AFRICA VS PAKISTAN
Reuters, PRETORIA
Firebrand fast bowler Dale Steyn become South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Test cricket yesterday as he helped reduce Pakistan to 76-4 at lunch on the opening day of the first Test at Centurion Park.
Steyn had opener Fakhar Zaman (12) caught at second slip by Dean Elgar to move to 422 Test wickets, taking outright top spot on the South Africa all-time list ahead of Shaun Pollock. He was hoisted on the shoulders of fast bowling partner Kagiso Rabada as the healthy Pretoria crowd gave him a standing ovation.
He hoped to make further inroads into the Pakistan batting line-up in the second session with Azhar Ali (31 not out) and Babar Azam (6 not out) looking to rebuild for the visitors on a pitch that has a green tinge and is already showing some variable bounce.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed had won the toss and elected to bat, but his side were in early trouble when Rabada (1-31) had Imam-ul-Haq trapped leg before wicket for a duck.
After Steyn (1-26) had removed Zaman with the score on 17, Pakistan moved past 50 before Shan Masood (19) played the ball onto his own stumps off the impressive Duanne Olivier (2-19).
Asad Shafiq (7) never looked comfortable at the crease and became Olivier’s second victim when he was hit in front of the wickets by a ball that was clipping to the top of leg-stump.
Pakistan have won only one of their previous Test series home and away against the Proteas, and lost 3-0 on their previous visit to the country in 2013. They have won only four of their 23 Tests at all venues against South Africa.
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