India v Australia, 2nd Test – India Player Ratings

Virat Kohli promised the Indian fans that the brand of cricket in Bangalore will improve. They were thrashed in Pune by 333 runs and the Bangalore test did not start well for them. Abhinav Mukund had a shocker of a comeback and Indian batting apart from KL Rahul was again taken apart by the Australian spinners. India managed only an 189 on what was supposed to be a good batting pitch and couldn’t capitalise on the same. Australia, on the other hand, batted intelligently, they showed patience and took an 87 run lead. India came back hard and took the most important session of the game on day 3 which took the game away from Australia. Pujara and Rahane batted with intent and focused hard on taking India out of their misery. There were many great performances in this test but some failed to impress as well. Here are ratings of all the eleven Indian players: Abhinav Mukund – 2/10 Abhinav Mukund. (Photo Source: Twitter) Abhinav Mukund failed in his comeback test. He was coming into the team on the back of a brilliant Ranji trophy season but hardly got going. Scoring a 0 and 16 in two innings, he was not at all at his best. In the first innings he was outdone by a brilliant yorker by Mitchell Starc but in the second innings, after getting off to a start, the Tamil Nadu batsman lost his bearing as he was clean bowled by Josh Hazlewood. There is a huge question mark on his future as the selectors now have options for the opening slot with Rohit Sharma coming back from injury. Mukund certainly has blown this great opportunity. KL Rahul – 8.5/10 KL Rahul. (Photo Source: BCCI) Grabbing the man of the match trophy this local lad is turning out to be a gem of a player. Scoring almost half of the runs in the first innings and then going on to score an all-important half century in the second KL Rahul was in superb form during this test match. He is the leading run-scorer of the series and looks like he has cemented his position in the Indian team. This young lad scored a magnificent 90 on a day when all the other Indian batsmen failed. He was out there right until the end in the first innings. The second innings saw an even better performance, he was playing some impeccable strokes only to be halted by Steven Smith’s blinder. Cheteshwar Pujara – 7.5/10 (Photo Source: BCCI) Cheteshwar Pujara got off to a good start in the first innings but failed to take the innings forward. Loss of concentration saw him walk back to the pavilion. He was utterly disappointed. This disappointment was backed up with an awe-inspiring innings from the star batsman. Pujara played a brilliant knock in the second innings and stitched an 118 run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane. This man is turning into a gem of a player for India and is proving himself time and again. Virat Kohli – 5/10 Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: BCCI) The star batsman could have got a lower rating if it wasn’t for his captaincy. Virat Kohli committed a howler in the first innings. With the bat as well and with his captaincy too. Ravindra Jadeja was severely under used by the Indian skipper. The crowd had to urge him to get Jadeja into the attack and once he did he ran through the batting line-up. The second innings was a bit better, he was unlucky with the bat but marshalled his troops well on the field. Those bowling rotations did the trick. The 28-year-old rotated his bowlers with conviction and gave each one of them a chance and they delivered. Going in with just four bowlers, the rotation was very important. Ajinkya Rahane – 7/10 (Photo Source: BCCI) Ajinkya Rahane failed in the first three innings of the test series but played well when it mattered the most. He gave his wicket away in the first innings by coming down the track and got stumped. The Mumbai lad then was pushed down the order at number six for the second innings. Rahane then showed his true colors as he built a match-winning partnership with Pujara. He scored a half century and has hit the form at the right time. His inclusion for the upcoming test looks sure. Karun Nair – 2/10 Karun Nair. (Photo Source: BCCI) Nair came into the team for Jayant Yadav as an extra batsman. He couldn’t apply himself on his home ground, though. Scoring 20 odd in the first innings and getting out on a golden duck in the second is not the kind of performance Indian team expected from him. The local boy threw his wicket away just like Ajinkya. Following a wide delivery by stepping out only to miss it saw him got stumped. Mitchell Starc then cleaned him with a peach of a delivery in the second innings. As the man who scored a triple century started India’s downfall. Ravindra Jadeja – 7/10 Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo Source: BCCI) Jadeja has always been a bowling all-rounder. All the eyes were on Ashwin when the Australian innings started, thanks to Nathan Lyon but Jadeja bowled his heart out. The Saurashtra man was severely underused in the first innings as he took six of the ten wickets. He was then pushed up the order as to battle the spinners but failed. However, he did his job with the ball as he finished with 7 wickets for the match and was the most economical bowler as well. Wriddhiman Saha – 5/10 Wriddhiman Saha. (Photo Source: BCCI) Saha was not at all at his best in the first innings. The wicket-keeper lasted just 14 deliveries scoring just 1 run. Caught in the slip off Nathon Lyon, Saha couldn’t do much with the bat but scored some important runs in the second innings. The Bengal lad did the job with the gloves as well. Clutching three catches in the second innings and a screamer to get Matthew Wade out just before tea. He is surely India’s number one keeper in tests. Ravichandran Ashwin – 8/10 Ravichandran Ashwin. (Photo Source: BCCI) There is not much to talk about when it comes to Ashwin. Let the numbers do the talking for him. The man from Tamil Nadu is the fastest player to reach 200 wickets. He did it in just 88 test matches. He is the fifth best bowler with 267 wickets in India. This five wicket hall was his 25th in tests. Ravi Ashwin is no doubt a match winner. A fantastic bowler, a point for each wicket earned him an eight rating as he picked up a six-for in the second innings to name the game to India. Ishant Sharma – 5/10 Ishant Sharma. (Photo Source: Twitter) Ishant gave his everything in this test match. His spell against Smith was one of the best on Indian soil in some time. The Delhi man toiled hard but could not account for many wickets but did the job of building pressure. He ended up with just two wickets in the match but that doesn’t reflect his performance. He partnered Yadav well and we saw him unsettle Smith as well. Ishant started Australia’s flurry of the wicket as he got rid of gritty Renshaw in his first spell. Umesh Yadav – 6.5/10 Umesh Yadav. (Photo Source: BCCI) Yadav reversed the ball to perfection on Day four. The Nagpur lad leaked runs at first but got rid of two of the main Australian batsmen. He took the wickets of Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh, both of them were capable of taking the game away from India but thanks to Umesh they were halted in their march. Yadav grabbed just three wickets in the game but just like his partner Umesh was busy stopping runs from the one end while the spinners wiped up from the other end.

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India v Australia, 2nd Test – India Player Ratings

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