Twitter Reactions: After Pujara, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja grind down Australia in Sydney

It was a complete annihlation of Australia in front of their home crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). The Day 1 of the Test match ended with some hopes of a comeback for the hosts but India’s lower middle-order didn’t give them any chance. While Cheteshwar Pujara kept batting the way he usually does, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja complimented him beautifully as India have effectively taken out one result out of the equation.

The day began with the visitors sitting pretty on 303/4 as he first hour witnessed some attritional Test cricket. The bowlers were fresh and the second new ball was still moving a fair bit. The overnight duo of Pujara and Hanuma Vihari were careful early on. The latter looked fidgety though and was finally snaffled by Nathan Lyon. The umpire’s decision wasn’t unconvincing and the on-field could’ve been reversed. But Vihari had to walk back on 42.

At 329/5, Australia still had a chance to make a comeback by skittling India’s last five wickets quickly. But that wasn’t to be. Rishabh Pant walked out to bat and to everyone’s surprise, played sensibly. He added 89 runs along with Pujara who was batting well to take the team’s score past 400.

However, when the double-century was there for the taking, India’s number three finally lost his patience to give a caught and bowled chance to Lyon. Nevertheless, his 193-run knock had put his team in the driver’s seat.

Jaddu and Pant boss the game

Surely, Australia would’ve now thought of ending the innings quickly. But even Ravindra Jadeja decided to bat patiently only to add to their agony. Pant and Jadeja punished the bad balls while also rotating the strike time and again. The partnership kept growing with every passing over and the bowlers’ patience ended. Tim Paine had to introduce a plethora of part-timers into the attack as the shoudlers also dropped.

In the meantime, Pant slammed his second successive century while Jadeja unfurled his sword celebration after reaching the 50-run mark. Both of them opened their arms soon after pummeling the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins who literally had no option but to keep bowling.

The duo added more than 200 runs together and probably Virat Kohli was waiting for Jadeja to get to his century. But Lyon castled him as the batsman missed an ugly heave and was dismissed on 81. India declared on a mammoth total of 622/7 after batting for a massive 167.2 overs. Pant remained unbeaten on 159 in what will be termed as a career-defining innings for him.

Openers go unscathed

The tired Australian openers Usman Khawaja and Marcus Harris walked out to bat and clearly their feet weren’t moving. The former was dropped by Pant as well on a duck off Mohammed Shami and then the duo didn’t give the opposition any chance. Australia finished the day on 24/0 after 10 overs as the spin-bowling duo of Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav rolled their arms as well indicating what is in store on Day three for the hosts.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the course of the day: