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Australian bowlers turned screw on Indian batters on Day 2 of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final which is being played at the Oval. It was all upto Indian batters after Australia piled on a colossal total of 469 riding on Travis Head's brilliant 163 and Steve Smith's 121.
Rohit, Gill disappoint
The responsibility was on the shoulders of Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill to give team a solid start but the dazzling duo failed to rise to the occasion and returned to pavilion on measly scores in the second session to leave India in lurch. Australian skipper Pat Cummins got rid of Indian skipper on the last ball of the sixth over. After Rohit's (15 off 26) dismissal the Indian fans hooked hopes on Gill. But Australia's veteran bowler Scott Boland had some other plans and bowled Gill for a measly 13 off 15. Not just this, Cheteshwar Pujara (14 off 25) and Virat Kohli (14 off 31) followed suit and succumbed to Australia's lethal bowling attack. Thus India were left teetering at 88/4 after 22 overs with Ajinkya Rahane (17 off 24) and Ravindra Jadeja (8 off 16) unscathed on crease.
Ganguly warns India off Boland threat
Meanwhile, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly lavished immense praise on Scott Boland, who bowled an exceptional seven-over spell in which he conceded just 12 runs and picked a wicket riding on four maidens as of 26 overs. Ganguly said that he will continue to frustrate India throughout the ongoing WTC final at the Oval in London.
"You will get good deliveries up front when you go to England, Australia or New Zealand. That was a good one against Rohit Sharma. He's been out this way a few times with the ball coming back in to the right-hander. Shubman Gill did not align himself and the ball knocked the off-stump," Ganguly told Star Sports.
Former BCCI president also said that Boland will be a key bowler on the Oval wicket. Notably, Boland's sharp delivery outside off-stump seamed in significantly after pitching and rattled Gill's stump. Gill was a caught in a fix whether to leave or hit the ball. However he didn't tinker with the ball which stormed into the stumps to leave the onlookers stunned and utter disbelief.
"Scott Boland will be a handy bowler on this wicket and he will trouble India right through this Test match. But you expect to see this in Test matches in these conditions. India may have lost a couple of wickets early but there is a lot of batting to come. You need a partnership from Pujara and Kohli," Ganguly added.
"When you bat as a team, everybody won't get runs. Some will get out early, there'll be some who get in, but the people who get in must make sure that they make a big score, which Australia did with Travis Head and Steve Smith. A lot depends on Kohli and Pujara to take India to a good position by the end of the day," Ganguly concluded.
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