India vs Australia, 2nd Test, Day 2: Cummins removes Gill, Pujara as tourists post 90/3 at lunch in Melbourne

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Melbourne, December 27: Australia bagged the important wickets of debutant Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara as they dominated the first session of the second day of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday (December 27).

At lunch, on day two India were 90 for the loss of three wickets, with captain Ajinkya Rahane (10 not out) and Hanuma Vihari (13 not out) showing some resistance to the star-studded Australian pace attack.

Pat Cummins was the star for the Aussies as the right-arm pacer picked up the wickets of Gill (45) and Pujara (17) in quick succession and pushed the hosts on the wall. Both Gill and Pujara (the overnight batsmen) were caught behind by wicketkeeper Tim Paine. While young Gill paid the price for going after the ball, Pujara was outfoxed by a brilliant delivery which swung slightly but was enough to brush past his bat and Paine took a brilliant one-handed catch diving towards his right.

The scorecard read 64 for three when Pujara departed and the Aussies had managed to get the wicket of the man who had troubled them a lot on the previous tour. Later, Rahane and Vihari held the fort and batted cautiously against the likes of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon - who was only introduced at the stroke of lunch.

In the 26 overs bowled in the morning session of Day 2, India could only score 54 runs at slightly more than 2 per over but it was the loss of important wickets which took the session away from them. It was the first session of the match which the Australians dominated.

Post lunch, the Aussies would be looking to break the partnership between Rahane and Vihari. Together the duo has added 26 runs and weathered 80 deliveries, but in the second session they would be hoping to add some more runs on the board along with offering some resistance.