India and Australia continued their enthralling contest on the second day of the ongoing second Test in Delhi on February 18, after India finished the first day at 21/0. India resumed their innings with openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma extending the opening partnership to 46 before Nathan Lyon trapped Rahul in front of the stumps and sent him packing. Rahul’s departure brought Cheteshwar Pujara to crease, who was playing his 100th Test.
However, Pujara couldn’t leave his mark in the first innings of his special match as he was dismissed by Lyon for a seven-ball duck. Pujara tried to defend the ball bowled from around the wicket by the Australian spinner but couldn’t get his bat in front of the pads, resulting in him getting out lbw.
With his dismissal, the 35-year-old became the eighth player to get out on a duck in their 100th Test, joining the list of big names such as Dilip Vengsarkar, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum, Alastair Cook and Courtney Walsh.
Early on in his innings, Pujara survived an lbw call on just the second ball that he faced as he stepped out to flick a delivery by Lyon only for the ball to hit onto the pads. However, the umpire turned down the appeal by the entire Australian team and adjudged him not out. With not enough support from his teammates and just one review left for the innings, captain Pat Cummins decided not to review the umpire’s decision.
However, the replays showed three reds on the ball tracking, indicating that Pujara would’ve been on his way to the pavilion had Australia reviewed it. But it didn’t cost them much as they got their man just five balls later in his innings.
Meanwhile, Lyon wreaked havoc on the Indian batting lineup, picking up four wickets in the first session. Apart from dismissing KL Rahul and Pujara, he also got the prized scalps of Indian captain Rohit Sharma and in-form batter Shreyas Iyer. India were left reeling at 66/4 after 26 overs, 197 runs behind Australia’s first innings total. Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja joined hands then, and all the hopes of taking India to a good total were now pinned on this pair.
