India put Australia to the sword on day two of the Boxing Day Test

Australia survived to stumps, but face a mountain to climb after India took advantage of sloppy fielding - and supreme batting by their biggest stars - to build a monster first-innings target.

Russell Gould

@gouldynews

3 min read

December 27, 2018 - 6:04PM

An Indian go-slow on a wicket destined for the scrap heap conspired to cook Australia’s bowling attack in a plan that could put the MCG Test and potentially the next one in Sydney beyond the home team’s reach.

Confirmation from Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts that it was time for a “regeneration” of the dead MCG square came as little relief to the Aussie attack forced to toil again for 80.4 day two overs in baking heat as India put on the brakes.

Three dropped catches in the final session, all off Nathan Lyon’s bowling, added to the misery for the home team which began the day with coaching staff “depressed” by the lifeless strip.

Indian captain Virat Kohli declared 30 minutes before stumps with his team 7-443 after some lusty late hitting and the Indian innings 169.4 overs old.

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Peter Siddle came on as a substitute fielder and dropped catch a simple catch to give Rohit Sharma a life.

Australian openers Aaron Finch (3) and Marcus Harris (5) then survived six nasty overs, and Harris another blow to his helmet from Jasprit Bumrah, as variable bounce started to become something for the batsmen to worry about.

But Finch declared it was still “game on” for the home side which is staring down the barrel of its own monster batting effort to save the bowlers, who he said were “tired” from having to fight the pitch again.

“I think that this wicket is deteriorating a lot more than we probably thought it would,” Finch said.

“It’s still game on if we bat really well, and back up and bowl again and put India a lot of pressure. I think all three results are still on the table.

“We’ve very confident we can bat big and put India under pressure again.”

Indian star Cheteshwar Pujara reaches his century.

Despite Finch’s expectations he conceded there was little bounce or sideways movement in the wicket and a draw remains the favoured result with bookmakers.

Another poor rating for the wicket would put the MCG within two demerit points of losing the right to host any international cricket for 12 months.

“We need a sense of urgency in terms of the regeneration of this wicket square,” Roberts said amid calls to scrap all the pitches and start again.

Comparisons have been made to last last year’s epic yawn fest against England. But that that turf bore featured more runs (519) and wickets (12) across the opening two days than this year’s Boxing Day bomb.

Conscious of the back-to-back Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, plus the opportunity to win its first ever series in Australia, the Indians decided to grind the Aussie bowlers in to the dirt.

Only Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant, with some late in the day hitting as India sought a declaration before stumps, scored at a strike rate above 50 through their 169.4 over innings

CricViz stats confirmed the tourists defended more deliveries than in any Test match they have played over the past 18 months.

Even energetic Indian skipper Virat Kohli put up a defensive wall, leaving 67 of the 204 balls he faced in making 82, the most times he has allowed the ball to pass in any innings in the series.

The Indian innings was the longest at the MCG since 1983.

Centurion Cheteswhar Pujara (106) said the wicket was “challenging” to bat on and even at his normal slow pace he wouldn’t have taken four sessions to reach three figures.

With the wicket showing signs of variable bounce, Pujara was also confident they had enough runs on the board to force the result they need to take a 2-1 series lead

“To score 200 in a day is a tough task, so I think we have enough runs on the board,” he said.

"As we saw today, the pitch has already started deteriorating and there's variable bounce.

"I don't think it's easier to bat now.”

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Originally published as India put Australia to the sword on day two of the Boxing Day Test