Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane scored unbeaten half-centuries to leave the second Test against Australia in Perth tantalisingly poised at the end of the second day.
India were 172 for 3, trailing Australia by 154 runs with Kohli on 82 and Rahane on 51. India had earlier bowled out Australia for 326 in the morning session, with Ishant bagging four wickets.
Earlier, M Vijay missed an in-swinger from Mitchell Starc and fell for a duck, once again pushing at a delivery he should have been defending. KL Rahul then played all over a beauty of a Josh Hazlewood yorker soon after lunch.
At 8 for 2, India needed either a counter-attack or a stubborn resistance. They got a bit of both in the form of Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Kohli got off the blocks quickly, driving Hazlewood for three fours in an over. Pujara was being Pujara, just defending and dead-batting and leaving alone balls in old-fashioned manner.
Kohli raced to 18 off 10, but he slowed down with the arrival of Nathan Lyon. The off-spinner was as tight as he could be, and choked the run flow. It allowed the pacers to attack relentlessly from the other end. India scored only 23 runs in a 20-over period at one stage. They didn’t hit a boundary for 22 straight overs.
