Delhi Test 2nd Day: Lyon’s 5-Wicket Haul Put Australia In Control Vs India

New Delhi: Delhi Test hangs in balance after see-saw day two as Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin added another significant chapter to India’s lower-order fightbacks as their priceless 114-run eighth-wicket partnership put the hosts on an even keel against Australia.

Axar’s invaluable 74 off 115 balls and Ashwin’s 37 off 71 balls recovered well to end their first innings at 262 in 83.3 overs, just one run behind Australia’s 263.

At stumps, Australia were 61/1 in their second innings, taking a handy 62-run lead.

After an unproductive outing in Nagpur, Nathan Lyon got back to top form in the second Test. The off-spinner unleashed his magic in the 17th over of India’s innings, trapping India vice-captain KL Rahul leg-before.

He was all over India’s top order after that snaring Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Shreyas Iyer in no time.

Lyon took his fifth scalp in the form of India keeper Srikar Bharat, who ended up top-edging to first slip.

With this breakthrough, Lyon became only the third player to take 100 Test wickets against India after England’s James Anderson (139 wickets) and Muthiah Muralitharan (105 wickets).

Lyon’s 100 wickets include eight five-fors and have come at an average of 34.60.

With 40 wickets in the country, Lyon has equalled Muralitharan to become the fourth-highest wicket-taker against India in India.

Ravindra Jadeja (26) provided a good hand to Virat Kohli for the fifth wicket. The duo added 59 runs before Jadeja was trapped leg-before by Todd Murphy.

At one stage the hosts were seven down while being 124 runs in deficit, but Axar (74) and Ashwin (37) joined hands to add 114 runs for the eighth wicket. This was the highest stand of India’s innings.