Agency :
Murali Vijay made up for the disappointment of his 99 in the first Test on Australia tour with his fifth century on day one of the second as India bagged the honours on Thursday by reaching 311 for 4 at stumps.
The day ended seven overs short of the stipulated 90 due to Australia’s slow over rate as Steven Smith made his Test captaincy debut but would have hoped for better results than just four wickets.
The teams made wholesale changes to their eleven – three each – as India took a brave decision to bat first on a lively Gabba wicket.
India went in with Umesh Yadav, MS Dhoni and R Ashwin in place of Mohammad Shami, Wriddhiman Saha and Karn Sharma. Australia, on the other hand, brought in debutant Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Shaun Marsh. Regular skipper Michael Clarke has been ruled out of the series due to a back injury while Ryan Harris is also injured. Peter Siddle was left out.
At stumps, Rahane was batting at 75, with Rohit Sharma at the other end on 26. Rahane shared an aggressive 124-run stand for the fourth wicket with Vijay that put India on top in the final session. However, rush of blood saw Vijay losing his wicket – out stumped – to first-Test hero Nathan Lyon.
Hazlewood was the most successful bowler of on otherwise ordinary bowling day for the hosts. He bagged two wickets for 44 runs. Australia clearly were a bowler short as Mitchell Marsh left the field with a hamstring injury in the post-lunch session.
Marsh bowled just six overs but took the wicket of India opener Shikhar Dhawan who suffered another failure, scoring only 24. However, he gave India a good start by adding 56 runs with Vijay.
