Ind vs Aus: Axar, Ashwin lead India fightback after Lyon's fifer on Day 2

Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin added another significant chapter to Indias lowerorder fightbacks as their priceless 114run eighthwicket partnership put the hosts on an even keel against Australia on an engrossing second day of the second Test here on SaturdayThanks to Axars invaluable 74 off 115 balls and Ashwins 37 off 71 balls India who were in complete mess at 1397 recovered well to end their first innings at 262 in 833 overs just one run behind Australias 263At stumps Australia were 611 in their second innings taking a handy 62run leadHad the two allrounders not bailed the hosts out Australia would have been far more happy than they actually were at stumps on SaturdayTravis Head 39 batting opening for a concussed David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne 16 batting attacked the Indian spinners knowing that defending wasnt an option They picked up a handful of boundaries in the processAlso Read BorderGavaskar Trophy Australia 611 in 2nd innings lead India by 62 runsAs has been the script over the past few years batter No6 Jadeja No8 Ashwin and No9 Axar were at the forefront of the recovery act after specialist batters were caught in two minds on whether to attack or defend against the Australian spinners led by Nathan Lyon 567 in 29 overs who grabbed his 22nd fivewicket haulThere were no demons in the track but a few cracks on the good and shortofgoodlength spots on both sides of the strip led the ball to keep lowMost toporder India batters were adjudged legbefore on the frontfoot barring skipper Rohit Sharma who was bowled playing across the line The worrying trend was India batters playing the Australian spinners with their pads as the first line of defenceHowever Axar and Ashwin applied the strategy to consistently counterattack the bowlers despite the fall of seven wickets Instead of plonking the frontfoot forward they used the pace of the deliveries from Todd Murphy 253 in 18 overs and debutant leftarm spinner Matt Kuhnemann 272 in 213 overs to score runsAxar got his third fifty and a second consecutive one in the series with a six over cow corner off Kuhnemann and another over extra cover off Murphy He also hit a six off Lyon but his standout shot was a backfoot punch through the covers off Pat CumminsAshwin too was determined at the other end and did not let go of the scoring opportunities as Australia lost the initiative after dominating the better part of the first oneandahalf sessions on SaturdayIndia lost wickets in a heap in the morning session before Virat Kohli 44 off 84 balls and Ravindra Jadeja 26 off 74 balls steadied the innings in the postlunch session by adding 59 runs for the fifth wicketBut once Murphy playing his second Test and debutant Kuhnemann dismissed the duo in quick succession things went downhill quickly for the hostsThe difference one saw between the Australian spin attack in Nagpur and Delhi could be due to the pace of the Kotla track Credit must be given to stalwart Lyon and the two young spinners for keeping up the pressure despite losing three referrals in the first hour of day twoKohli who played with a lot of composure and was looked good for a big score would consider himself unlucky that he had to head back due to an umpires callKuhnemanns arm ball seemed to be brushing the legbail and Indias No 1 batter looked distraught as there was no conclusive evidence on whether the ball hit the pad first or the batBefore that a Murphy slider caught Indias most consistent Test batter Jadeja plumb in frontIn the morning session KL Rahuls bad patch continued while Cheteshwar Pujara had a forgettable first innings outing in his 100th TestOnly Rohit Sharma 32 looked in good touch as a vintage Lyon was in his element troubling the toporder repeatedlyRahul 17 who survived two DRS appeals was trapped legbefore as Lyon tossed one from round the wicket and got it to deviate enough and find his padsRahuls run of failures will again spur the debate about whether young Shubman Gill should have been given the opportunity to play in the ongoing TestRohit seemed to carry from where he had left in the first Test and was also playing the sweep shot to good effect However he played across the line to a straighter one from Lyon and was castled in the processRarely has Pujara walked in to bat amid such fanfare the 20000plus Kotla crowd kept chanting his name but his milestone match turned out to be an anticlimax as he failed to bother the scorersIt was another flighted delivery from Lyon which turned back enough and the orthodox Rajkot man tried to play a halfforward defensive stroke only to be caught plumb in front He would like to forget the innings in a hurryThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any 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