Pat Cummins and Scott Boland dismissed openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in quick succession to leave India at 37\/2 in 10 overs at Tea after Mohammed Siraj picked a four-wicket haul to lead a solid fightback for his team and bowl out Australia for 469 in their first innings on day two of the World Test Championship final at The Oval, here on Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
For India, still trailing by 432 runs, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli were unbeaten on 3 and 4 respectively at Tea. A lot hinges on the highly-experienced duo to lead India's charge with the bat in a crucial final session on Day 2.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
India made a positive start with Rohit pulling a short ball off Mitchell Starc while squeezing a drive off him to take two fours. Gill played a glorious drive off Cummins through the gap for four on the very first ball he faced and went on to play a cracking pull on the backfoot over mid-on to pick another boundary.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cummins bounced back by getting some inward movement to beat Rohit's attempted clip and trap him plumb lbw for 15. In the next over, Gill horribly misjudged a straighter delivery from Boland coming in and saw the top of his off-stump being rattled without offering a shot.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pujara and Kohli then took India to safety till tea, with fans awaiting another gripping session of Test cricket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Earlier, Australia began day two from their overnight score of 327\/3 with Steve Smith making 121, his 31st Test century while Travis Head crossed 150 for the fourth time in his career to top-score with 163 as the duo shared a massive 285-run stand for the fourth wicket after being reduced to 76\/3.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But India, who took only three wickets on a lacklustre day one, made a spirited fightback to pick the rest of seven wickets to bowl out Australia for 469 on a pitch where there is some movement and variable bounce on offer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A persistent Siraj was the pick of bowlers for India with 4\/108, also becoming the 42nd bowler from the country to scalp 50 wickets in Tests. Pacers Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur took two wickets each while Ravindra Jadeja had a scalp to his name.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The second session began with some traces of variable bounce being seen. Carey clipped off Shami for four, before taking three boundaries off him twice through leg-side and one past mid-off -- in the 113th over. He went on to launch Ravindra Jadeja over long-on for six, taking Australia above 450.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But Jadeja bounced back immediately as Carey missed a straighter delivery on reverse-sweep and was trapped lbw, ending his knock at 48 and his 51-run stand with captain Pat Cummins for the eighth wicket. Mohammed Siraj rattled Nathan Lyon's off-stump to pick his 50th Test wicket and had Cummins caught at extra cover to end Australia's innings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n