India inflicted the second successive defeat on Australia on Sunday to lead the Test series 2-0. Coming into the game after a dominant win in the first Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy, India continued their good run to claim another win.
Riding on Usman Khawaja’s 81 and Peter Handscomb’s 72, Australia posted 263 runs on the board in the first innings. In reply, India could only manage to score 262 runs in the first innings helped by Axar Patel’s top score of 74 runs.
With a one-run lead, Australia came in to bat in the second innings when it seemed that India’s inability to take a lead in the first innings would come back to haunt them. However, a poor batting performance on the part of Australia combined with Ravindra Jadeja enjoying the form of his life with the ball ensured India the Aussies sent packing on a paltry score of 113 runs in the second innings.
This meant that India only had a target of 115 runs to chase down for their second straight win in the series, which the men in blue managed with ease.
For India, Ravindra Jadeja continued his purple patch to pick up 10 wickets in the match, seven of which came in the second innings. Jadeja nicked the wickets of Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon and Matthew Kuhnemann in the second innings, helped by fellow spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who picked up the remaining three wickets.
In the second innings, Australia lost four wickets on 95 runs and could go on to put 113 runs on the board. India chased down the target for the fall of four wickets to win the match on the third day itself. This win comes on the back of defeating Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test match.
