Australia vs India 2020: 4th Test, Day 2 – Advantage Australia As Rain Plays Spoilsport in Final Session At The Gabba

Australia finished day 2 of The Gabba Test in an advantageous position having made crucial breakthroughs and keeping India on the backfoot as they started batting in their first innings. Just when they were starting to tighten their grip on the game, rain played spoilsport denying the final session of play to happen as the umpires called stumps. India, meanwhile, are still trailing by 307 runs, which means they have an uphill task with the bat on Day 3. More about the day 2 report in detail below. 

India started the day to pick up the remaining five wickets quickly as Australia tried to as many runs as possible. The Tim Paine (50)-Cameron Green (47) stand which scored 98 runs was finally broken by Washington Sundar to give India their first wicket of the day. The skipper perished soon after bringing up another fifty by Shardul Thakur. Paine was dismissed with the team score on 311 as Australia’s final four wickets added another 58 runs. 

T Natarajan finally cleaned up Josh Hazelwood (11) to end the Australian first innings on 369. The left-armer picked 3 for 78 on his debut. Shardul Takur picked up 3 for 94 and Sundar 3 for 89 as Navdeep Saini did not take the field on day 2. 

Also Read: India Need To Work Out Why There Have Been So Many Injuries: Adam Gilchrist

India started their first innings on a bad note losing the wicket of Shubman Gill (7) early. This was his first failure in Test cricket after getting three starts and converting one into a fifty. Pat Cummins got the right-hander caught at slips to give Australia an early breakthrough. 

Also Read: There’s No Excuse For This,’ Sunil Gavaskar Slams Rohit Sharma After He Gets Out At The Gabba

Advantage Australia After Rohit Sharma’s Dismissal

Cheteshwar Pujara (8*) then joined Rohit Sharma (44) at the wicket. While Pujara took his time to settle in, Rohit played some shots and got into his groove. He hit six fours en route his knock and then played a false shot to get out. Rohit Sharma played 74 deliveries for his 44 which included six fours. Rohit’s dismissal, just at the stroke of tea which gave the opposition a huge advantage getting into the tea break. Sunil Gavaskar was also angry because Rohit being a senior batsman in the team gave his wicket away when he looked set to get a big score. Rohit’s ill-timed dismissal was one of the highlights of the day’s play at The Gabba. 

Nathan Lyon's 397th Test wicket seemed to come out of nowhere and the Aussies were pumped! #OhWhatAFeeling #AUSvIND | @Toyota_Aus pic.twitter.com/rIhl4ZjbTu

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 16, 2021

Rain played a spoilsport in the final session of play denying the final session from happening. Australia will be the happier of the two teams after the day’s play as Rohit’s wicket just before the tea break helped them get their noses ahead in the Test match. Nathan Lyon coming into action in his 100th Test match, dismissed Rohit in his second over of the day, which was his 397th Test wicket. 

With India still trailing by 307 runs, both Pujara (8*) and skipper Ajinkya Rahane (2*) have a tough job on their hands of batting throughout the day if possible.