After restricting India to a meagre 189 in the first innings, Australia reached 40 for no loss at stumps on the opening day of the second cricket Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Openers David Warner (23 not out) and Matt Renshaw (15 not out) survived a few close calls from off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin to head back undefeated when the umpires dislodged the bails for the day.
Australia reach 40/0 at stumps vs India in second Test
Earlier, off-spinner Nathan Lyon returned with career-best figures of 8/50 to bundle out the hosts for a paltry 189 after Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. Opener K L Rahul, with a score of 90, was the lone bright spot in India’s forgettable first innings.
The Australian off-spinner credited his great showing to the preparatory camp in Dubai where he bowled close to 1200 deliveries.
“I don’t know what to say. I watched a lot of Ashwin tapes, but I stuck to my strength of getting bounce. I bowled about 1200 balls in Dubai,” Lyon said at the end of the first day’s play.
“We worked hard as a bowling group. We discussed how to bowl in India, the toughest place to tour for us,” he added.
Lyon said that he was quite pleased with taking the wicket of Indian skipper Virat Kohli but felt there was nothing special about the delivery that got him.
Kohli for the second time in this series made an error in judgement and was trapped plumb in front of the stumps.
“That ball was nothing special, if you are asking me really. To be able to take his wicket today was exceptional but we know this series is a massive series, it’s a long series and he’s a world class batter so we expect him to bounce back. It is quite pleasing to take Virat’s wicket,” said Lyon.
