Australia hold edge despite Axar blitz

NEW DELHI: Spinner Nathan Lyon’s five wickets and a breezy start by the batsmen gave Australia the upper hand in the second Test against India despite a counter-attacking 74 by Axar Patel on an intense second day.

India were all out for 262 after a key 114-run eighth-wicket fightback by Axar and Ravichandran Ashwin, leaving the tourists a lead of one run in New Delhi.

Australia raced to 61 for one at stumps after Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Usman Khawaja for six after a reverse sweep flew straight to leg slip.

Travis Head, on 39 with five fours and one six, and Marnus Labuschagne, on 16, were batting at the close of play with Australia leading by 62 runs in their second innings.

“We need to stop Australia to around 220-250 and I think that will be a gettable target on this pitch if we bat on day four,” Axar, a left-hand batsman and a spinner, told reporters.

“Bowlers will have to be patient and work on getting wickets, bowl in good areas even when the batsmen are scoring runs,” he added.

“In the last session they played aggressively and we noticed that.”

Number eight Axar stood out for India with his second successive Test half-century as he took on the opposition bowlers with nine fours and three sixes.

Ashwin played the anchor in his 37 before he fell to Pat Cummins, who struck with the second new ball to get the batsman caught at square leg by Matt Renshaw, a concussion substitute for David Warner.

Cummins took a stunner at mid on to end Axar’s brave knock off Todd Murphy and fellow spinner Matthew Kuhnemann ended the Indian innings in the final session.

Lyon led Australia’s charge with four wickets to rattle India in the morning and then claimed his 22nd Test five-for in an afternoon session that saw a controversial dismissal of Virat Kohli on 44.

“Today was an amazing challenge against some world-class superstars. Happy with the way I came out and the role I played,” said Lyon, who became the first Australian bowler to take 100 Test wickets against India.

Score Board

Australia won the toss

Australia 1st innings 263 all out

India 1st innings

Sharma b Lyon 32

Rahul lbw b Lyon 17

Pujara lbw b Lyon 0

Kohli lbw b Kuhnemann 44

Iyer c Handscomb b Lyon 4

Jadeja lbw b Murphy 26

Bharat c Smith b Lyon 6

Patel c Cummins b Murphy 74

Ashwin c Renshaw b Cummins 37

Shami b Kuhnemann 2

Siraj not out 1

Extras: (b8, lb11) 19

Total: (all out, 83.3 overs) 262

Fall: 1-46, 2-53, 3-54, 4-66, 5-125, 6-135, 7-139, 8-253, 9-259, 10-262

Bowling: Cummins 13-2-41-1, Kuhnemann 21.3-4-72-2, Lyon 29-5-67-5, Murphy 18-2-53-2, Head 2-0-10-0

Australia 2nd innings

Khawaja c Iyer b Jadeja 6

Head not out 39

Labuschagne not out 16

Total (1 wicket, 12 overs) 61

Yet to bat: S. Smith, P. Handscomb, A. Carey, P. Cummins, N. Lyon, T. Murphy, M. Kuhnemann, M. Renshaw

Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Khawaja)

Bowling: Ashwin 6-1-26-0, Shami 2-0-10-0, Jadeja 3-0-23-1, Axar 1-0-2-0

Series: India lead four-match series 1-0

Umpires: Nitin Menon, Michael Gough

TV Umpire: Richard Illingworth