India Wins 2nd Test Match Against Australia: India has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a stunning win against Australia in the second Test match in Delhi. It was a match that left the fans and the players alike stunned with the speed at which the game progressed. Australia started the day effectively 62 for 1, but had India worried as they raced to 86 for 2, then lost their last eight wickets for 28 runs.
The victory means that India has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and Ravindra Jadeja registered his best Test figures, 7 for 42, and his second 10-wicket match haul.
Jadeja played a pivotal role in India’s win, taking six wickets with the sweep shot, which had earlier given India a lot of pressure, scoring 71 runs off 27 sweeps for just two wickets. The sweep shot, which had put India under immense pressure, was used by Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne to distract the Indian team.
At one point, Australia looked set to go well past 150, which would have been a challenging target on this pitch. However, Jadeja’s attacking approach, bowling at high pace, proved lethal, with one ball turning, and the other going straight.
India’s approach post lunch was a proactive one. The idea was for Cheteshwar Pujara to try to bat through while the others put pressure back on the bowlers. Rohit Sharma did that as well as anybody. In the second over after lunch, he skipped down and lofted Lyon over wide long-on for a six followed by a paddle-sweep for four.
Then Rohit went after Kuhnemann too, going past Ian Botham’s 67 Test sixes to move to No. 21 on the all-time list. However, he ran himself out when he called Pujara for a second run and then stopped midway.
Australia’s attacking approach – which had given them a first-innings lead despite batting fewer overs than India – meant the price to pay was steep once things went wrong. Between the Smith and Renshaw wickets, Jadeja had struck a big blow by dismissing Labuschagne. In the second innings in Nagpur, Labuschagne had gone back to a flat but full ball to lose his wicket to Jadeja.
He spent a lot of time looking at those replays and worked hard between the Tests to identify the right ball to go back to. Eventually, perhaps because runs were at a premium, Labuschagne again went back to a fullish ball and was bowled by a straight one that stayed low.
Overall, it was a great win for India, and they have shown their resilience and fighting spirit, which has been their hallmark in recent years. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is one of the most prestigious Test series in world cricket, and India has shown that they are one of the best teams in the world.
The win will go a long way in boosting their confidence, and they will be looking forward to the next match against Australia. The victory has come at a crucial time for India, and it will be interesting to see how they build on this success in the coming months.
Australia’s cricket team, often regarded as one of the best in the world, has been unable to secure a test series victory against India in recent years. The last time the Australians managed to defeat India in a test series was during the 2014-15 season, when they won the four-match series 2-0.
Since then, Australia has faced India in four more test series, and has failed to come out on top in any of them.
One of the primary reasons for Australia’s struggles against India has been their inability to cope with the spin-friendly conditions that are typical of Indian pitches. Indian spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav have proved to be a constant thorn in the side for the Australian batsmen, who have often found themselves at a loss to deal with the spinning ball.
In addition to their struggles with the ball, Australia has also found it tough to contain the Indian batsmen on these pitches. Players like Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Rohit Sharma have been in fine form against the Australian bowlers, and have piled on the runs in these matches.
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