During the third day of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 Test match between India and Australia in Delhi, India beat Australia by 6 wickets to extend their lead to 2-0 in this four-match series. Current champions of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India have retained the same after winning the first two matches.
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Chasing a 115-run target, India fumbled a bit on the back of losing four wickets in the fourth innings but never looked like being entirely in trouble. Led by captain Rohit Sharma (31) hitting three fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 155, India sealed a victory in the 27th over due to batter Cheteshwar Pujara (31*) and wicket-keeper batter Srikar Bharat (23*) sharing an unbeaten match-winning 30-run partnership.
Playing his 100th Test match, it was a fitting moment for Pujara to step out of the crease and lift Australia spinner Todd Murphy for a boundary to hit the winning runs. Barring vice-captain KL Rahul’s (1) form, India don’t have anything to worry about going into the third and fourth Tests in Indore and Ahmedabad respectively.
India vs Australia 2nd Test Man of the Match
Player of the Match in the first Test in Nagpur, India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja won a match award for the ninth time in Test cricket on Sunday. First instance of Jadeja winning back-to-back Test match awards, the 34-year old player was the most deserving candidate after changing the match in the morning session today.
The southpaw’s career-best bowling figures of 12.1-1-42-7 was the sole reason why India were able to dismiss Australia for 113 in 31.1 overs. With the visitors losing nine wickets in less than a session for the second time on the tour, it wouldn’t be wrong to state that Jadeja’s second 10-wicket haul in a Test match must’ve hurt them a lot mentally than just losing two matches would’ve done.
“These wickets suit me because the odd ball spins and some stay low. I knew they’d play sweeps and reverse sweeps. So, my idea was just keeping it simple and straight. I knew they were looking for runs. So, the plan was just bowling into the stumps,” Jadeja told host broadcaster Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.
