Scott Boland needles Nitish Kumar Reddy to end ‘one of the more extraordinary days you will ever see’
The rare sight of Australian paceman Scott Boland returning fire at an Indian opponent ended an action-packed second day of the second Test.
India trailed by 29 runs at stumps with just five wickets to build some lead to defend against the rampaging Aussies.
Boland struck on the first ball of the innings before dismissing Virat Kohli before India were reduced to 5-128 after the hosts were bowled out for 337 earlier in the evening.
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Rishabh Pant is unbeaten on 28 while Nitish Kumar Reddy ended Saturday night on 15 not out after a boundary off the final ball.
“A big departure from the final ball and it’s a boundary to end one of the most extraordinary days of Test matches you’ll ever, ever see,” James Brayshaw said on Channel 7.
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Replays showed that Nitish took a bite from Boland as he ran onto the pitch.
“That’s the response Nitish had on the last ball of the day, as ‘the keeper stood up expecting Boland to go full and straight,'” said Ricky Ponting.
“A few words from the big barrel too, which you don’t usually see too much of.”
Tensions built over the first two days — highlighted by Mohammed Siraj’s big send-off to homegrown centurion Travis Head.
But every needle is a distraction for India, who suddenly have questions to answer about their batting line-up.
Veteran captain Rohit Sharma’s entry into the series at No.6 was a mistake, dismissed for six off 15 balls after being dismissed for three for 23 on day one.
Whether he has it in him to build form higher up the order remains to be seen; since September he has scores of 6, 5, 23, 8, 2, 52, 0, 8, 18, 11, 3 and now 6.
Virat Kohli also suffered a disappointing follow-up to his Perth century with Superstar Boland working on to fall for 11 off 21.
MATCH CENTER: Ball by ball commentary, scoreboard and stats from Australia vs India
The touring batsmen’s struggles against the pink ball put Australia in the box to level the series with three matches remaining.
After 10 days of fierce criticism following their capitulation in the first Test, the Aussies have dominated and now only need to remove Pant on Sunday to be within a hair’s breadth of victory.
