It's seam machine at SCG!

Indian quicks dominate Australia despite injury scare to leader Jasprit Bumrah to bowl out hosts for 181 and take four-run first-innings lead; Rishabh Pant’s quickfire 61 guides visitors to 141-6 at stumps on Day Two

A game that has progressed at breakneck pace at the Sydney Cricket Ground is tantalisingly poised, the only guarantee being a three-day finish. A frenetic second day’s play on Saturday, which produced 313 runs and 15 wickets, has left the fifth and final Test in the balance, with the subtext of the uncertainty surrounding Jasprit Bumrah’s availability when India come out to defend a target on the third day adding to the drama and suspense.

Bumrah suffers back spasm

Bumrah left the field after bowling just one over at the start of the post-lunch session in Australia’s first innings and was driven to a nearby hospital for scans after experiencing back spasms. The official word is only that the medical team is monitoring him.

India will need Bumrah’s services, of that there is little doubt. They finished the second evening on 141 for six, an overall lead of 145, after a fascinating counterpunch from Rishabh Pant, who produced the second fastest Test half-century (29 balls) by an Indian on his way to electric 61 that rocked Australia and thoroughly entertained another huge gathering topping 47,000.

Also Read: "It is getting difficult in some areas": Prasidh Krishna

Pacer Mohammed Siraj is ecstatic after dismissing Australia’s Travis Head on Saturday

Pant’s spectacular onslaught on a shell-shocked attack was so different from how he had approached his two previous outings and was perhaps catalysed by a lack of faith in a green surface that continued to assist seamers prodigiously. He had seen his own pacers exploit the conditions superbly when Australia began on nine for one in reply to India’s 185, not as tiny as it might appear numerically.

Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Nitish Kumar Reddy all stepped up after Bumrah, the captain for the match, left the field, and Virat Kohli, who took over leadership responsibilities, marshalled his troops admirably, as if he had never left that role. India caught everything that came their way and despite a cracking half-century on debut from Beau Webster, opened up a narrow four-run advantage by bowling out the hosts for 181.

Prasidh readjusted his length after a wayward opening spell to finish with three wickets while it was Siraj who had delivered the early blows, dismissing Sam Konstas and Travis Head in the same over to leave the Aussies reeling at 39-4. Webster rebuilt in Steve Smith’s company during a stand of 57 and Alex Carey again held up India, but the pacers regathered focus to clean up the last four wickets for just 19 runs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal produced four cracking boundaries in Mitchell Starc’s first over to help India race to 42 when Scott Boland got into the act with three wickets in no time. Among his victims, for the fourth time this series, was Kohli, who perished to a catch behind the stumps for the eighth time in these five Tests in a disappointing pattern.

Risky rewards

Pant decided there was no point just hanging around. He charged Boland straightaway, a first-ball six stemming from a club over long-on revealing the mood he was in. The boundaries flowed unchecked with Pant in full flow. On the risk-reward scale, he was perennially in the blue, smashing the bowling to smithereens and dominating a 46-run fifth-wicket stand with Ravindra Jadeja.

Australia kept plugging away and were rewarded for their perseverance. India’s hopes of stretching their lead rest with Jadeja, dropped by Smith in the day’s penultimate over, and Washington Sundar, the last recognised pair at the crease.

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