The Boxing Day between India and Australia at the MCG so far has been all about the visitors battling out in the sun against a top quality bowling attack in the first innings of the test match. It has been slow but steady going for the number one ranked side, who were made to toil hard for their runs on the opening day but managed tomake it to stumps losing only two wickets in the day.
Pujara and Kohli, who were unbeaten at the at the end of play on Day 1, made it through to lunch on Day 2 without any further damage. The hosts however struck back in the afternoon session, managing to remove first Kohli and then Pujara in quick succession. Kohli, who was struggling with his back, threw his wicket away trying to upper cut Mitchell Starc for the six over third man, but ended up getting comfortably caught by Aaron Finch inches before the boundary rope.
Pujara, who had looked in complete control during his stay at the crease was undone by a fuller delivery from Pat Cummins which kept low catching him completely off guard. Pujara had played a delightful innings until then bringing up his 17th test century and 2nd in the series so far but even he could do nothing do prevent the ball from shattering the stumps.
Pujara’s wicket certainly would have given the Aussies a bit of a headache as they will be the ones to bat last on this wicket. With the pitch bound to deteriorate even more as the game progresses, the uneven bounce might just play a bigger part in the game than anyone could have expected a day earlier.
Watch the video of the dismissal here:
https://twitter.com/telegraph_sport/status/1078124100546117632
