Adelaide, Dec 7 Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head slammed their respective fifties each as Australia lead by 11 runs over India after reaching 191/4 in 59 overs at dinner on day two of the second Test at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
It was a session of two halves, as India initially had the upper hand, thanks to Jasprit Bumrah taking two quick wickets. But an assured Labuschagne came out of his poor run to hit 64 and share a 67-run stand with a free-striking Head, who is 53 not out at his home ground.
With Head and Mitchell Marsh, who is unbeaten on two, Australia will be looking to extend the lead to as much as possible against an Indian bowling line-up, which looked off the boil via their change bowlers, before the second new ball and the twilight session arrives.
The first session saw Nathan McSweeney add just one run to his overnight total of 38 before being undone by a lovely ball from Bumrah that swung in a touch and took his outside edge to Rishabh Pant behind the stumps. The fast-bowling spearhead struck again when he had Steve Smith caught down the leg side for just two.
But from there, Labuschagne hit his groove to feast on straighter lines from the Indian bowlers. He used his wrists to glance Harshit Rana for two boundaries while driving Siraj through extra cover for another four, and surviving an lbw appeal off him.
From the other end, Head was quick into entering run-making action by driving Bumrah for four, before smashing a half-volley from Ravichandran Ashwin over mid-off for six. After Labuschagne got his 21st half-century in Test cricket off 114 balls, he and Head took a wayward Rana for 17 runs in the 51st over.
After Head slashed him through backward point for four, Labuschagne glided, dabbed and pulled Rana to collect three quick boundaries. But Labuschagne fell for 64 when he dabbed at a short and wide ball from Nitish Kumar Reddy and was caught by gully.
But there was no stopping Head as he swept Ashwin for six, before flicking Siraj for four and got his 18th Test fifty off 63 balls by punching him through cover for a boundary to bring curtains on a session which has further strengthened Australia’s hold on the match.
Brief scores: India 180 in 44.1 overs trail Australia 191/4 in 59 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 64, Travis Head 53 not out; Jasprit Bumrah 3-23, Nitish Kumar Reddy 1-18) by 11 runs.
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