Twitter Reactions: Pujara-Rahane show helps India gain upper hand in the 2nd Test

The third day at the Chinnaswamy stadium saw a huge turnaround in the game. India began things well as they restricted Australia to 276 before putting up a tremendous display with the bat to gain a lead of 126 runs with 6 wickets to spare.

Resuming from their overnight score, Australia tried to increase the lead. Mitchell Starc who has created menace with the bat for India ended up slogging to Ashwin. Ravindra Jadeja stepped up with wickets off consecutive balls and another one in the next over to send the Australian lower order packing.

His bowling figures of 6/67 were his second best figures in Tests. Ashwin who wasn’t quite among wickets got a couple of scalps while Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav managed one each yesterday. The task underlying for India was to overcome the deficit and set a good target for the Aussie side.

The Indian openers began really well and were 38 without loss at lunch. The second session saw Abhinav Mukund depart in the very first over. Cheteshwar Pujara walked out to bat as he carved out some exceptional batting. Just when it seemed both KL Rahul and Pujara were doing fine enough, Rahul was dismissed by Steve O’Keefe in what was an outstanding catch by Steve Smith.

Virat Kohli was given LBW by umpire Nigel Llong and he took a review straight away. It turned out to be a controversial decision as the third umpire was unsure whether the ball touched the bat or the pad first. The ploy of sending Jadeja at No.5 also failed as he was bowled by Hazlewood leaving India reeling at 120/4 with the lead just 30 runs.

The third session witnessed a spectacle shift in the momentum. It saw the best batting partnership in this series so far. Two of India’s most renowned batsmen in the test format, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane put up a sensational batting display. Together they combined for an unbeaten batting partnership of 93 runs for the fifth wicket as India didn’t lose a single wicket in the last session.

While Pujara stayed not out at 79, Rahane cruised with a stylish 40*. With a lead of 125 runs, the hosts ended the day on a high. India would now be looking to garner a lead of above 250 to put the Australian batsmen under pressure chasing. On the other hand, the visitors will look to ensure some really quick wickets and restrict the lead to under 200.

The talking moments for Twitter were the Jadeja show in first session, Steve Smith’s spectacular catch in the second session and some phenomenal batting by the duo of Rahane and Pujara.

Here are some of the amazing Twitter reactions that took place during the course of the game:

https://twitter.com/altcricket/status/838706824631181312