Kohli looks to advance India’s fortunes but Australia starts confident

Virat Kohli looks to advance India’s fortunes but if Australia regroups, the visitors have a long tail.

Mitchell Starc celebrates after taking the wicket of Murali Vijay of India during day two of the second test match in Perth on Saturday. Picture: Getty

It took two balls on day two to change the direction of the game. To get a reeling India off the ropes and back into the fight.

That’s Virat Kohli’s way. He doesn’t just retaliate, he retaliates first.

The game was spinning out of control. Bowlers with wild eyes took 6-24, high on cracks, a little crazed from the grass.

Australia’s last four wickets fell in quick succession. Pat Cummins bowled by Yadav — a 59 run partnership with Tim Paine ended with a clatter. Paine was plumb to Jasprit Bumra two balls later. Rishabh Pant flew vertical across the slips to accept nicks from Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood and Ishant Sharma had himself a neat little 4-41.

Murali Vijay got a screamer from Mitchell Starc. Out. Bowled. Duck. KL Rahul had just two runs when he went the same way to a Josh Hazlewood yorker.

The visitors were 2-8 in reply to Australia increasingly respectable 326.

Enter Virat Kohli and endeth that particular form of mayhem.

The Indian captain punched the second delivery he faced from Hazlewood along the grass through the on side for the sweetest of fours. It was a clear statement of intent. Australia’s bowlers, getting ahead of themselves, attacked his stumps. He made them pay. He hit three more boundaries off Hazlewood in a subsequent over and he was away.

He’d scored 19 from 23 balls.

Cheteshwar Pujara watched sleepily from the other end and advanced cautiously as he does. His 23 runs would come from 103 balls and include just one boundary.

Kohli took his cues from the railway worker’s son and slowed himself. Adjusting his tempo to the realities of the situation.

But that on drive after two deliveries at the crease was the counter punch that turned the momentum of the game.

When Pujara went, Ajinkya Rahane changed it up again. His first 22 runs came from 23 balls. The Australians, distracted by two hashed pull shots, aimed half their deliveries at him half way down the pitch and he cashed in. An upper cut for six over slips was breathtaking.

Kohli is, simply, incredible. He begins again on 82no and is pressing toward his sixth century in this country. He compiled four in the last four match series on these shores and averages 60 here.

If he bats well in the first session today he will put his country in a strong position. If Australia regroups, the visitors have a long tail and they can take a first innings lead.

“Whenever he is batting we feel pretty confident,” Ishant Sharma said after play. “We felt good, we finished the day in a strong position and hopefully we will continue that way tomorrow.

“The game, right now it is equal, tomorrow hopefully we will win the first session and turn the game in our favour.”

India's Ajinkya Rahane bats in front of Australia's Tim Paine during play.

Rahane is on 51 but Australia can wrest back the balance of the game if he and Kohli can be removed early.

“If we can get a couple of wickets early, break this partnership,” Usman Khawaja said. “It is not an easy wicket to start on.

“As a team who batted first you are hoping the wicket deteriorates and keeps deteriorating and we will have our chance at the tail but we still have to be quite disciplined.”

Khawaja praised Kohli’s innings.

“He’s a good batsman, he respects good balls and tries to put away the bad ones like any good batsman does,” he said.

“I don’t think we have lost the upper hand, I think we are still ahead of the game in a lot of respects. Rahane came out and took on the short ball and got off to a flier and we pegged them back. We just have to do that consistently.

“Hopefully tomorrow we can do it a little bit better, but all in all I think it was a pretty good day, they are still 140 odd behind. It took them 70 overs to get 170, so I still think one or two wickets in the first session tomorrow will be pretty big for us.

“I think there’s still enough in it, I think we bowled well in patches and then didn’t quite bowl well in other patches, we probably could be a little bit more disciplined. But credit to them, they also batted well, put a bit of pressure on our bowlers. All the bowlers bowled well in patches, but you’ve got to keep doing it over and over again, you’re going to beat the bat, sometimes they’re going to nick it and sometimes they’re not.”