India wins second test by six wickets after Australia crumble
Cricket
It got worse as Jadeja bowled Alex Carey (7) with the score just past 100.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Australia started the third day of the second test with high hopes, but in less than four hours it had instead suffered another embarrassing batting collapse before India chased down a meagre total to win the second test by six wickets before tea on the third day.
Australia was 61-1 at the start of day three and looked to continue its batting counterattack from the previous evening. But instead it was India’s spinners that ran amok as the visitors crumbled to be all out for 113 on Sunday as Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin took all ten wickets.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja took career-best figures of 7-42 in a devastating spell but was aided by some poor shot selection by a panicked Australia batting lineup.
It was Jadeja’s 12th five-wicket haul in tests, as he picked a match-haul of 10 wickets for 110 runs. His previous innings’ best was 7-49 against England at Chennai in 2016.
Making Australia’s morning collapse count, India chased down the 115 runs it needed to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series with 100-test veteran Cheteshwar Pujara smashing a four off Todd Murphy to end the match.
Australia put up a semblance of resistance with Nathan Lyon (2-49) and Todd Murphy (1-22) sharing three wickets to accompany a bizarre run out of captain Rohit Sharma but to no avail as India won by six wickets.
Australia made a poor start losing Travis Head (43) on the sixth ball of the morning as Ashwin had Head caught behind with Srikar Bharat pouching a smart catch.
Marnus Labuschagne (35) and Steve Smith (9) added 20 runs for the third wicket in the calmest passage of play for the tourists.
It changed soon after as Ashwin trapped Smith lbw at the end of the 19th over, and the decision stayed in India’s favor despite the batsman opting for DRS.
Labuschagne was the next to go, bowled off Jadeja two overs later, as the ball kept a tad low. His dismissal opened the floodgates as Australia collapsed from 95-3 to 95-7 in the space of 11 balls.
After Labuschagne, Ashwin (3-59) trapped Matt Renshaw (2) lbw as the batters tried in vain to sweep.
Peter Handscomb was caught at slip for a three-ball duck, and Jadeja bowled Pat Cummins off the next ball after the Australian captain went for an unsightly slog, which defined his team’s poor batting approach Sunday.
It got worse as Jadeja bowled Alex Carey (7) with the score just past 100.
He also bowled Nathan Lyon (8) and Matthew Kuhnemann (3) in successive overs to end the innings and set India a straightforward chase of 115 runs to win.
In the chase India lost Lokesh Rahul for one run before lunch but Sharma teed off, hitting 31 off 20 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes. He was then run-out after a mix-up with Pujara.
The latter added 30 runs with Virat Kohli (20) for the third wicket before Kohli was stumped off Murphy.
Shreyas Iyer scored 12 off 10 balls before holing out in the deep off Lyon.
Pujara (31 not out) added 30 runs with Srikar Bharat (23 not out) to finish off proceedings shortly before tea.
Australia scored 263 runs in its first innings. India replied with 262 runs on day two, thanks to Axar Patel’s fighting half-century. Lyon picked up 5-67.
The hosts had won the first test in Nagpur by an innings and 132 runs, also within three days.
