Australia crumble against spinners as India take 2-0 series lead in Delhi

Australia capitulated with the bat on day three in Delhi to hand India a comfortable six-wicket win in the second Test of the Border Gavaskar series. The visitors lost nine wickets in an extraordinary morning session to crumble to 113 all-out, with Ravichandran Ashwin picking up three wickets and Ravindra Jadeja recording career-best figures of 7 for 42 in the innings. India faced a few hiccups in their fourth-innings chase of 115 but eventually got home with six wickets to spare to take a 2-0 series lead and retain Border Gavaskar trophy.

Australia hoped to continue their momentum from day two in the first session, but the tourists lost Travis Head in the first over of the morning to kickstart their collapse. The left-hander drove Ravichandran Ashwin through the covers to signal his intent but was lured into an edge by the off-spinner later in the over to depart for 43.

Ashwin also got the key wicket of Steve Smith for the second time in the game, with the number four trapped lbw after missing his sweep shot. Ravindra Jadeja got in on the act with the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne off a delivery that stayed a tad low, and the rest of the Australian middle order folded like a pack of cards against the two premier spinners.

Renshaw perished to the sweep shot again to continue his miserable tour, while Jadeja removed Peter Hanscomb and Pat Cummins off consecutive deliveries to leave Australia reeling at 95 for seven. The reverse sweep brought the demise of Alex Carey a few overs later, and Ravindra Jadeja cleaned up the rest of the tail to finish with seven wickets to his name as Australia collapsed to 113 all out.

India faced a potentially tricky fourth innings run-chase of 115, and the hosts lost KL Rahul before Lunch to unfortunate circumstances, with the opener’s flick ricocheting off short leg and into the hands of Alex Carey. However, Rohit Sharma eased the tensions after the break with a flurry of boundaries. The captain launched two sixes to give India the perfect platform in the chase but had to depart for 31 after a mix-up with Cheteshwar Pujara led to a run-out.

India also lost Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer in the session. But Cheteshwar Pujara batted through till the end, finishing with 31* from 74 balls, while KS Bharat added a quickfire 22-ball 23 to see the hosts home with six wickets to spare.