Live Cricket Score AUS vs IND, 3rd Test, Day 2 SCG
Hello everyone! We are back with our live coverage of the Sydney Test that saw the opening day taking a hit due to a lengthy rain delay. Australia though finished on a solid note when the day's play ended after losing opener David Warner cheaply. Will Pucovski began his Test career with a solid fifty after being gifted two lives (and a potential run out chance as well). Marnus Labuschagne too went on to score a fifty after adding exactly 100 runs for the second wicket with Pucovski. Steven Smith has also looked solid after he made an aggressive start and he seems to have found his form back. A tough day awaits India bowlers.
Powered By
Day 1 Review
At stumps, Labuschagne was unbeaten on 67 and Smith, after his uncharacteristic run of low scores so far, seemed out of the woods with 31 confident runs, which included five authoritative boundaries. Labuschagne found the fence eight times. This was after Pucovski, riding on some luck, made 62 on debut to break the shackles for the under-fire side. Smith looked positive from the word go and was determined to not let the Indian bowlers dictate terms to him. "It was good to get a couple of boundaries early. Marnus played well, hopefully we go along well tomorrow," he said at the end of day's play in which 55 overs were bowled owing to a four-hour rain disruption. Having entered the match after registering scores of 1, 0 and 8 in his last three innings, Smith's first confident shot came against India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was nicely driven through the mid-on for his first boundary of the series. His confidence up after dismissing Pucovski for his first Test wicket, debutant pacer Navdeep Saini got carried away and was guilty of bowling too full to Smith, who latched on to them with a couple of fours. With Smith looking in fine fettle, the early signs were ominous for India and skipper Ajinkya Rahane brought back his nemesis Ravichandran Ashwin into the attack, but the Australian was equal to the task on this occasion. A tossed up delivery was whipped off pads through mid-wicket and then Smith danced down the track to loft Ashwin on the onside for another boundary. Meanwhile, Labuschagne was in his element after he had settled in and played a few pleasing drives on both sides of the wicket, having drawn confidence from the pull shot he played against Bumrah at the beginning of his innings. The two added 60 runs for the third wicket after a 100-run association between Labuschagne and Pucovski, who was trapped in front of the wicket by Saini but not before starting his Test career with a solid knock.