India 141 for 6 (Pant 61, Boland 4-42) and 185 lead Australia 181 (Webster 57, Smith 33, Prasidh 3-42, Siraj 3-51) by 145 runs
The second innings penalty shootout, however, could be skewed in Australia’s favor if Bumrah is no longer fit to play in this Test.
India’s support bowlers, however, stepped up remarkably on the second day, with Prasidh Krishna and Reddy sharing five wickets between them. India’s non-Bumrah seamers came away with combined figures of 8 for 132 – their best in any innings this tour.
Webster continued his excellent debut, emulating teammate Sam Konstas by scoring a half-century in his first Test.
The 19-year-old responded strongly with the bat as he advanced on Bumrah and pushed him down the ground for four. Then, after Bumrah strengthened the slip cordon by bringing in deep third, Konstas deployed another daring reverse ramp, prompting Bumrah to place a fielder at deep third.
In the next over, however, Mohammed Siraj made Konstas delight for 23 off 57 balls with an attacker. Three balls later, he had Travis Head caught at second slip for 4. Where Bumrah and Australia’s quicks hit the deck, the source of Siraj’s threat was swing. So he continued to explore fuller length to maximize that swing.
Smith and Webster steadied Australia with a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Smith fell to Prasidh on the stroke of lunch. Smith looked destined to reach 10,000 tries, but moments before the break, Prasidh changed his stock length to an even fuller length to send him five points off the mark.
Then, in the afternoon, he broke through Carey’s defenses with a similar length. Reddy shook Australia further with the wickets of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Australia lost their last four wickets for just 19 runs to be bowled out for 181.
Yashasvi Jaiswal then started India’s second innings in grand style, mowing down Starc for four fours in the first over. KL Rahul also showed some attacking intent at the other end until Boland stepped in and put the brakes on India’s fast start.
Boland struck in his second over when Rahul clipped an inducker onto his stumps and in his next over he bowled Jaiswal with a beauty that swung towards mid-on around the wicket and moved away late to bat the outer edge and break off the top of the stump. Boland then dismissed Virat Kohli in familiar fashion, for 6. It was the eighth time that Kohli had edged the keeper or slip cordon in nine trips to the crease in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was so angry that he yelled at himself and slapped his thigh.
Webster took his first Test wicket when he caught Shubman Gill behind the inside edge.
After spending almost 150 minutes being someone else with the bat on the first day, handling 40 off 98 balls, the real Pant stood up on the second. He charged at his first ball from Boland, who had just trapped Kohli, and bludgeoned him hard at mid-off for six. He then attempted a reverse scoop on his third ball and, although he failed to connect, he didn’t curb his natural instincts during that inning.
Pant then fielded Webster for three consecutive fours, including a trademark falling pull-sweep. He notched his fifty with a helicopter six off Starc and celebrated the milestone with another six off the next ball.
Pant’s onslaught forced Australia to play T20 lines and lengths. When Cummins went wide and hid the ball away from Pant’s swing arc, he chased it down and ended up giving the keeper an edge. Boland had Reddy bowled for 4 to cap a 15-wicket day in Sydney.