Australia’s Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb both hit half-centuries on the first day of the second Test against India in Delhi as the tourists were bowled out for 263. After choosing to bat, opener Khawaja scored 81 and Handscomb remained unbeaten on 72, while Mohammad Shami claimed 4-60.
India trailed by 242 at the end, as they scored 21-0, with skipper Rohit Sharma on 13 and KL Rahul on 4.
After an innings victory in Nagpur, the hosts currently lead the four-Test series 1-0.
Khawaja and David Warner (15) shared a partnership of 50 for the first wicket before Australia was reduced to 91-3 by the dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne for 18 and Steve Smith for a duck in a span of three deliveries by Ravichandran Ashwin (3-57).
Prior to Khawaja and Handscomb’s 59-run partnership for the fifth wicket, Travis Head, who was one of Australia’s two changes, fell for 12.
Rahul brilliantly caught Khawaja in the covers as he attempted a reverse sweep, and wicketkeeper Alex Carey (0) fell seven balls later.
In the 68th over, Todd Murphy and Captain Pat Cummins were both removed by Ravindra Jadeja (3-68) after Handscomb and Cummins put up 59 runs together.
Shami then returned to dismiss Nathan Lyon and debutant left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann, as Australia was all out for 263 runs in 78.4 overs.
India then faced a challenging nine-over spell before the end of the innings, but Rohit and Rahul handled Cummins, Kuhnemann, and Lyon with ease.
Khawaja: “It was challenging to face Ashwin and Jadeja“
“It is always challenging and when you have quality bowlers like Ashwin and Jadeja it is always challenging. The gameplan was always the same, it has been pretty steady from the year and a half, I’m always looking to score runs, I like the conventional sweep too. If you hit one over mid-off it is always risky to hit one again. When the ball is spitting it is always dangerous to hit straight. The right-handers get all the good stuff, no rough outside the off-stump.”
“There is a reason India have produced a lot of great right-handers, left-handers need to be flamboyant to score runs. Peter has got a great defence, he batted beautifully today. I hope so, we got 260 and you don’t know what is a good score on this track until the other team bats. I have played only once here in Delhi, last time I was the 12th man and in 2012 it was a 200 v 200 sort of game. I think tomorrow will tell the tale where it is going.”
Full Scorecard 2nd Test: Ind vs Aus
Australia 1st Innings
| BATTING | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Warner | c †Bharat b Mohammed Shami | 15 | 44 | 3 | 0 | 34.09 |
| Usman Khawaja | c Rahul b Jadeja | 81 | 125 | 12 | 1 | 64.80 |
| Marnus Labuschagne | lbw b Ashwin | 18 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 72.00 |
| Steven Smith | c †Bharat b Ashwin | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Travis Head | c Rahul b Mohammed Shami | 12 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 40.00 |
| Peter Handscomb | not out | 72 | 142 | 9 | 0 | 50.70 |
| Alex Carey † | c Kohli b Ashwin | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Pat Cummins (c) | lbw b Jadeja | 33 | 59 | 3 | 2 | 55.93 |
| Todd Murphy | b Jadeja | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nathan Lyon | b Mohammed Shami | 10 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 38.46 |
| Matthew Kuhnemann | b Mohammed Shami | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Extras | (b 13, lb 1, nb 2) | 16 | ||||
| TOTAL | 78.4 Ov (RR: 3.34) | 263 | ||||
| Fall of wickets: 1-50 (David Warner, 15.2 ov), 2-91 (Marnus Labuschagne, 22.4 ov), 3-91 (Steven Smith, 22.6 ov), 4-108 (Travis Head, 31.2 ov), 5-167 (Usman Khawaja, 45.5 ov), 6-168 (Alex Carey, 46.6 ov), 7-227 (Pat Cummins, 67.2 ov), 8-227 (Todd Murphy, 67.6 ov), 9-246 (Nathan Lyon, 74.2 ov), 10-263 (Matthew Kuhnemann, 78.4 ov) |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Shami | 14.4 | 4 | 60 | 4 | 4.09 | 0 | 1 |
| Mohammed Siraj | 10 | 2 | 30 | 0 | 3.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 21 | 4 | 57 | 3 | 2.71 | 0 | 0 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 21 | 2 | 68 | 3 | 3.23 | 0 | 1 |
| Axar Patel | 12 | 2 | 34 | 0 | 2.83 | 0 | 0 |
India 1st Innings
| BATTING | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma (c) | not out | 13 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 38.23 | |
| KL Rahul | not out | 4 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 | |
| Extras | (b 4) | 4 | |||||
| TOTAL | 9 Ov (RR: 2.33) | 21 | |||||
| Yet to bat: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat †, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | WD | NB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Cummins | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.33 | 0 | 0 | |
| Matthew Kuhnemann | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1.50 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nathan Lyon | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2.00 | 0 | 0 |
