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Whenever it seems like Test cricket is dying a slow but inevitable death amid the rise of T20 franchise leagues and growing disinterest around the world, along comes a day like this to spark it back to life.
The second day’s play in Delhi between Australia and India featured everything great about the longest format: high-quality bowling, brilliant fielding, momentum twists and turns, bowling domination by the visitors into a stirring rearguard effort by India into Australia’s most successful stint with the bat this series, and finished with the match as evenly poised as it had been heading into the day.
Australia will at once be thrilled with a single-run first innings lead, having bowled India out for 262 thanks to a memorable return to form from Nathan Lyon (5/67) to rout the Indian top order, as well as a Travis Head-led onslaught late that saw their lead swell to 62 by stumps; and be disappointed to have again conceded a lengthy lower-order partnership after having the hosts on the ropes at 7/139.
In Nagpur, it was Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja’s 88-run partnership for the eighth wicket that snuffed out any faint Australian hopes; while the 114-run stand between Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin isn’t quite so decisive, it has left the visitors vulnerable to the sort of batting collapse that has repeatedly stymied their efforts to conquer the subcontinent in recent years.
They will have to do it without first-innings hero Usman Khawaja as well, who fell late in the day to a superb close-in catch from Shreyas Iyer at leg slip to a middled lap sweep.
However, with Head taking the fight back to the Indian bowlers replacing the concussed David Warner at the top of the order, he and Marnus Labuschagne saw the Aussies safely to stumps at 1/61; with the pitch tricky at times to start on, even a target of 250 would be worth its weight in gold.
Resuming at 0/21, India’s opening pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul safely negotiated the opening overs, before Lyon, so disappointing in the first Test, reminded the world of his prowess.
Within 26 balls, he had winkled out for of India’s top five: Rahul pinned LBW by a ball that spun past his forward defence, Sharma comprehensively bowled playing back to one that skidded on, a leg before shout on 100-Test veteran Cheteshwar Pujara successfully reviewed for a second-ball duck, and Iyer spectacularly caught at short leg by a diving Peter Handscomb.
Handscomb’s stunning take, moving quickly to his right to intercept the ball before somehow clinging on as it bobbled off his body, continued his excellent Test after an unbeaten half-century on Day 1, and seemed the kind of moment to change the course of a series.
Peter Handscomb of Australia celebrates taking a catch. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
So often Australia’s nemeses in the past, Virat Kohli and Jadeja combined for a 59-run stand to see India safely through to lunch; once again, though, one wicket would bring a clutch as the Aussies surged back.
Jadeja’s fall for 26, trapped in front for Todd Murphy’s first wicket of the match, began the rout, which continued when Kohli was likewise given out LBW to hand Matt Kuhnemann his first Test wicket via just the stroke of luck Australia needed.
Kohli immediately reviewed the decision, but the on-field call of out would prove doubly significant; replays left the third umpire unable to conclusively determine whether the ball had grazed his bat before hitting the pad, while ball tracker projected it to be clipping leg stump.
The Australian reactions, Kuhnemann’s especially, told of a team with renewed belief; when KS Bharat’s attempt to counterattack ended with a top-edged sweep smartly taken at slip by Steve Smith running back with the flight, trouble was brewing.
Enter Patel. With just one wicket in three completed innings this series, he has played third fiddle to Ashwin and Jadeja, but his batting has been nothing short of sensational throughout.
Just as he did with Jadeja in Nagpur, Patel punished any loose offerings from the tiring Australian spinners, giving only one half-chance – a low offering missed at slip by Smith – to bring up his second half-century in two hits this series.
As the shadows lengthened, Australia, having been in command just hours earlier, now faced a first-innings deficit. The second new ball’s arrival would immediately change that, though, with Ashwin well caught by Renshaw clipping off his pads to mid-wicket for a well made, if inconspicuous, 37.
Patel fell the next over for 74, denied a century by one lofted shot too many and a remarkable catch by Cummins at mid-on.
When Kuhnemann disturbed Mohammed Shami’s furniture to snuff out any chance of a late hitting frenzy as he’d achieved at Nagpur, the slenderest of leads was Australia’s.
Khawaja’s early fall for 6 appeared a body blow, but the difference in opening partners for him could not have been starker from one innings to another. Where David Warner had seemed all at sea on Day 1, frequently wearing body blows including the one that ended his Test prematurely, Head immediately settled into his prime role of aggressor, with great effect.
With Shami unable to find swing, Head pounced on anything short and swatted marginal width through the covers, using his feet expertly off Ashwin to flay repeatedly to the off side. Rattled, Ashwin even sent down a wayward full toss that Head gleefully dispatched down the ground for six as the onslaught continued.
Any doubts over his ability to play spin, if not shelved entirely, should at least now be tamed by his desire to take the game on. Coming off at stumps for a 40-ball 39, with Labuschagne (16 off 19) riding comfortably in his slipstream and the score 1/61 after 12 overs, he had given Australia the upper hand.
Whether they are good enough to make the most of it is, of course, a question for Day 3.
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