Pace pack steps up in Bumrah's absence to give India small lead

India's pace pack presented a good account of themselves on the second day to restrict Australia to 181 and earning a minor four-run first innings lead.

In the absence of Bumrah, India's younger crew stepped up. Nitish Reddy had two wickets in two balls as he had both Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc nicking off. Prasidh Krishna had Beau Webster caught at gully for 57.

Webster was the lone batter that kept hitting back playing percentage cricket right through and holding the Australian innings together. He had initially helped them recover from a top-order stutter alongside Steve Smith in the first session.

India had got a good start with the ball on day two with both Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj testing the batters early. On the green-pitch with high seam movement, the sun being out made little difference to how difficult batting would prove to be.

Sam Konstas took the adventurous route out against Bumrah, reverse-lapping him for boundary or walking down to drive him down the ground. It enabled Australia to punch back but the counter could not last long. Siraj too found his rhythm outside off, moving the ball away from a good length. It eventually got the better of Konstas who edged to gully.

Siraj's attacking lengths allowed Travis Head to clip one off his pads but in the same over he had him nicking to the slip cordon leaving them precariously poised at 39/4 inside the first hour.

Steve Smith managed to survive a few plays and misses while also leaving the ball well. He had some release shots on offer when Prasidh Krishna came on to bowl. However, he fell for 33, edging Prasidh Krishna to second slip.

Brief scores: Australia 181 all out (Beau Webster 57, Steve Smith 33; Prasidh Krishna 3-42) trail India 185 by 4 runs.