Khawaja, Green lead charge as Australia reach series-high 480 against India

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill successfully batted through the final 10 overs of the day, ensuring that India was at 36 for no loss in response. With a lead of 2-1 in the series, India needs to win the ongoing match against Australia to confirm their place in the final of the World Test Championship in June. However, as of now, India is trailing by a significant margin of 444 runs in the match.

Khawaja and Green played a wonderful partnership of 208 runs, this is the highest partnership by either side in the series, where bowlers clearly seem to have an upper hand. The double hundred partnership by Australians in India came after a while, as the last such partnership was seen in 1979.

From the beginning of Day 2, Khawaja and Green dominated as the ball wasn’t turning much and the reverse swings were not materializing. The confidence of Australian batters against India’s bowling was exemplary with Green punishing Umesh Yadav with three boundaries in an over and completed his century by hitting fourth against Ravindra Jadeja.

Ashwin didn’t let the pitch decide his quality of bowling and he kept the pressure high on Australian batters. He took 6 crucial wickets in a relentless 47.2 overs and only allowed 91 runs to slip away in his spell.

Despite being on the field for a grueling 167.2 overs, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill showed no signs of fatigue as they batted through the last 10 overs of the day without any trouble. Their remarkable timing of the ball confirmed that the pitch was exceptionally favorable for batting, especially against the added pace and bounce of Starc and Green. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, added a diplomatic touch to their bilateral relations as they jointly inaugurated the test match between their teams on Thursday.

(With inputs from agencies)