Agency :Skipper Michael Clarke played through pain and recorded his 28th Test century and Steven Smith smashed 21 boundaries for his unbeaten 162 to take Australia to a strong 517 for 7 at stumps on a rain-truncated second day against India at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.It was a frustrating day for the Indian bowlers as they leaked runs and managed to pick just one wicket at the fag end of play by getting rid of Clarke with debutant Karn Sharma providing the breakthrough and in the process picking up his second wicket of the match.Smith and Mitchell Johnson (0) were at the crease when bad light forced the umpires to call time on the day’s action. The light deteriorated rapidly after rain halted play thrice in the day. Clarke resumed his interrupted innings at the start of second day’s play and progressed towards a well deserved century as Australia reached 405 for 6 in a rain-shortened opening session. Clarke was 85 not out when lunch was taken after only 56 minutes of play and Smith, who resumed at 72 not out, was unbeaten on 98 and approaching his fifth Test century. Nearly four hours of cricket were lost on day two as intermittent showers sent the players off the field time and again. The first break came in the morning session after the first hour’s play.The Australian skipper resumed his innings from 60 and added 51 runs for the seventh wicket with Smith before the first rain-break of the day. The two batsmen had started with a clutch of boundaries to begin with, five within the first four overs, pointing to the story of the Indian bowling in this first innings. Smith was just two runs away from his fifth Test hundred when rain intervened, but play resumed for just 30-odd minutes to allow him to reach that landmark.He got there in the 102nd over of the innings, off 172 balls, with 14 boundaries. Soon after the players walked off and an early lunch was taken to help matters, but to no avail. When play resumed for another short while after the stipulated tea-time, it allowed Clarke to race to his 28th Test hundred. He faced 127 balls for it and hit 15 boundaries, receiving a standing ovation from the 15000-strong crowd at the Adelaide Oval.Before play stopped again, keeper Wriddhiman Saha missed a stumping chance in the 110th over, with Smith the benefiting batsman as he had started playing more attacking strokes. He was batting on 131 at that time. He then reached the 150-run mark in the 115th over, his best Test-score passing the 138 he scored against England last year.Hosts then managed to cross the 500-run mark in the 117th over as Clarke and Smith raised their 150-run stand as well. The former was then caught at square leg just before the end of day’s play.On day one, Warner had scored a rousing 10th Test hundred, scoring 145 runs off just 163 balls, helping Australia to 354 for 6 at stumps after winning the toss and electing to bat first.Play will start half an hour early on the third day to make up for the lost time and overs as India would look to wrap up the Aussie tail at the earliest.Mohammad Shami, Varun Aaron and Karn Sharma bagged a couple of wickets each by giving away more than 4.5 runs per over each. Murali Vijay was the most economical bowler from the Indian side which pretty much sums up India’s day in the first Test match.
