IND vs AUS 1st Test Day 2 : KL Rahul and Jaiswal’s Unbroken Partnership of 75 Runs, the Biggest in 18 Years?
The first Test match between India and Australia is currently taking place in Perth. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal have formed a solid partnership, putting together 78 runs so far. This is now the biggest opening partnership for India in Australia since January 2004, when Virender Sehwag and Aakash Chopra had a 123-run partnership at the SCG. As of now, Rahul has scored 32 runs off 62 balls with 3 fours, while Jaiswal has made 38 runs off 74 balls, hitting 5 fours.
For Australia, the last pair of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood made India wait a bit longer for the final wicket. Australia lost their first nine wickets for just 79 runs, but then Starc (who scored 26 runs off 113 balls) and Hazlewood (who remained not out with 7 runs off 31 balls) managed to add 25 runs in an 18-over partnership. This allowed the Indian team to take a lead of only 46 runs.
India got off to a good start when Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Alex Carey behind the stumps, caught by Rishabh Pant, in just the second over. Bumrah ended up taking 5 wickets for 30 runs in 18 overs. Harshit Rana began the bowling on Day 2, claiming 3 wickets for 48 runs in 15.2 overs. He bowled several short balls, and one of them led to Nathan Lyon catching KL Rahul in the slips.
At that point, the Australian team was still 71 runs behind India’s first innings score of 150 runs. However, their strategy of bowling short balls against Starc didn’t work out as planned. Starc played defensively and even hit a few aerial shots. Harshit eventually got Starc out, caught by Pant, in his second spell.
