'Ye log bazball pe aa gaye' - Axar Patel rescues India with bat but Australia dominate Day 2 of 2nd Test

Ind vs Aus (image source: twitter)

As the second day of the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy comes to a close on Saturday, February 18, Australia are in the driver's seat with a 62-run lead in their second innings. The visitors lost the wicket of their first-innings hero Usman Khawaja by just 6 runs, but Travis Head got off to a good start with 39 off 40 balls, giving the team a commendable start.

Earlier, Australia restricted India to 262 in the first innings with a lead of one run. With the partnership of two bowling all-rounders, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, the hosts were looking good to take a respectable lead on the board, but once it broke, India lost wickets quickly. While Axar was the top-scorer (74) of the Indian team with a brilliant half-century, Ashwin gave him support by scoring 37 runs.

Resuming Day 2 with 21 run for no loss, India lost early wickets of KL Rahul (17), Rohit Sharma (32), Cheteshwar Pujara (0), and Shreyas Iyer (4) in the first session. Former India captain Virat Kohli (44 off 84) was looking set to score big but an unexpected stroke of bad luck took his wicket as the umpire made a controversial LBW call.

The ball appeared to hit both bat and pad at the same time when Kohli tried to defend. The star batter was building a good partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 74) before getting out to Mattew Kuhnemann's delivery.

The Pat Cummins-led side has taken an attacking approach in the second innings as Travis Head scored an unbeaten 39 runs in just 40 balls. Head opened the second innings with David Warner getting ruled out due to a concussion. Left-handed batter Matt Renshaw replaced Warner in the second innings.

With the Aussies leading by 62 runs with 9 wickets in hand, India will want to end the visitors' innings soon as anything above 200 could be a real challenge for them to chase down in the second innings.

Here's how Twitter reacted to Day 2 of the second Test:

Australia playing with an attacking mindset now

— Ehtisham Siddique (@iMShami_) February 18, 2023

Australia winning this, there's no turn now.

— Cricket_Enthusiast (@Hatedguy123) February 18, 2023

travis head is inventor of bazball

— Daksh Gill(fan account) (@GillDakshveer) February 18, 2023

India losing this if target is above 150

— Yashdip Does Cricket 🏏 (@YASHDIPRAUT) February 18, 2023

Tension mat lo. Abhi mai hu inki chaa modhne ke liye. Kal dekhna.😂👍👍 pic.twitter.com/HtQeORfH46

— Abhisar Tiwari (@TiwariAbhisar22) February 18, 2023

Jaise Australia ne Head ko open karaya hai. Hame bhi Shami se open karana chahiye. 🤩🤩 pic.twitter.com/k89dDlBmHp

— Abhisar Tiwari (@TiwariAbhisar22) February 18, 2023