Mohali: The third day of the second Test saw some swash-buckling performances and show-stopper for the day was debutant Shikhar Dhawan who scored 185 runs in 168 balls. PCA stadium has witnessed some greatest innings and surely this knock of Shikhar Dhawan is going to be one of them. He became the quickest-debutant centurion as he reached this feat in just 85 balls.
Apart, he also broke the record of first-wicket partnership with Murali Vijay as they went past 193 scored by Chetan Sharma and Sunil Gavaskar. If Vijay was easing out the things, Dhawan was decimating the Australian bowlers all-over the parkas India added 283 runs on the board in their 58 overs at stumpd on Day three.
Indian openers came in to bat for just one over and they added three runs to the board till Lunch.
Post-Lunch Session went in India’s favour as the Indian openers tore apart the Australian bowlers and were looking very dangerous. Opening pair added 156 runs in this session and that too in just 29 overs. Dhawan started dealing in boundaries from the third over and went with the flow. Dhawan smashed some exquisite boundaries and he reached his maiden-fifty in the 18th over by smashing Nathan Lyon for four. Dhawan continued toying with the Australian, while Murali Vijay played steady at the other end and crafted an innings that carried lot of character in it.
The worst was yet to come for the Aussies as as Dhawan shifted his gear after the 20th over and came all guns blazing. He scored eight boundaries in the next seven overs and reached his century in 85 balls. He set up a new record as he became the fastest centurion on his debut. Dhawan also became 13th Indian to score a hundred on Test debut. Incidentally Dhawan is the first Indian opener to score a hundred on Test debut. His innings is now the second highest by any opener on debut in all Test cricket. His opening partner Vijay also got in to the groove and took the Lyon for two monstrous six.
Meanwhile, Dhawan’s 85-ball hundred is also the fourth fastest by an Indian in Test cricket. The record is shared by Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin with 74-ball hundreds, followed by a 78-ball hundred by Virender Sehwag.
Before going to the Tea, India were in a comfortable position as their opening pair added 156 runs on the board without any loss of wickets. This was the best opening partnership for India this season. Murli Vijay was looking well set at 42 and Dhawan was at 106.Between lunch and tea, Dhawan scored 106 runs. He became only the fourth batsman to score hundred runs in a session on Test debut after West Indies’ Dwayne Smith, England’s Matt Prior and Bangladesh’s Abul Hasan. Dhawan is only the seventh Indian player to score a hundred in a session.
Tea break didn’t bring any respite for the Aussie bowlers as Shikhar continued his prolific run and went on to break few more records. He went passed the record of Gundappa Vishwananth of scoring maximum runs on debut when scored his 138th run on the first ball of 44th over.
Meanwhile, Vijay continued chipping singles and giving his partner maximum amount of strike. Vijay reached his half-century by pushing the ball to mid-wicket for couple in the 34th over. Dhawan in the meantime reached his 150 in just 131 balls that included 29 boundaries. But he didn’t stop there and kept scoring boundaries off Steven Smith and Xavier Doherty.
On the other end, Vijay kept his calm and kept the scoreboard ticking and there was hardly a time when these openers were scoring lees than five runs per over. Opening pair added another 127 runs in the final session of the day and took India to a commanding position. Murli Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan scored 83 runs and 185 runs respectively and were looking solid to make it even bigger on the fourth day.
Earlier in the day, it was Steven Smith and Mitchell Starc who put up a great show by knocking the boundaries every now and then. Australia added 135 runs to the overnight total of 273. Indian bowlers were trying their best but had a hard luck and Smith made sure that Australia get pass 350 but sadly got out to Pragyan Ojha. He was stumped by MS Dhoni, who was lightning quick behind the stumps when Ojha bowled the delivery bit outside the off-stump and Smith stepped down to go for a big-hit but missed it completely. This was Ojha’s second wicket of the innings. Smith got out on 92 after playing a crucial role in taking Australia to a comfortable position.
But after the fall of Smith’s wicket, it was Starc who started dealing in boundaries which frustrated the Indian bowlers. His back to back boundaries off Ishant Sharma did raise the heat in the middle but he got out at 99 when Ishant set him up quite beautifully by bowling some good out-swingers before that and added third wicket to his name. Xavier Doherty who came in to bat didn’t last long and was trapped by Ravichandran Ashwin, who picked up his second wicket of the match.
SCORECARD Australia 1st innings: E. Cowan c Kohli b Ashwin 86, D. Warner c Dhoni b Jadeja 71, M. Clarke st Dhoni b Jadeja 0, P. Hughes c Dhoni b Ojha 2, S. Smith st Dhoni b Ojha 92, B. Haddin b Sharma 21, M. Henriques b Sharma 0, P. Siddle lbw b Jadeja 0, M. Starc c Dhoni b Sharma 99, N.
Lyon (not out) 9, X. Doherty lbw b Ashwin 5, Extras (b 8, lb 12, nb 3) 23. Total (in 141.5 overs) 408.
FoW: 1-139, 2-139, 3-151, 4-198, 5-244, 6-244, 7251, 8-348, 9-399.
Bowling: Kumar 9-0-440, Sharma 30-8-72-3, R Ashwin 43.5-9-97-2, Ojha 28-5-98-2, Jadeja 31-7-77-3.
India 1st innings: M. Vijay (batting) 83, S. Dhawan (batting) 185, Extras (b 5, lb 9, nb 1) 15, Total (for no loss) 283.