Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill played cautiously and made sure India went into Tea break unscathed on the second day of the ongoing third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
At the end of the second session on Friday, India had scored 26 runs without losing any wicket in the nine overs they faced before the Tea break with Sharma and Gill remaining unbeaten on 11 and 14 respectively. Both the batters batted positively and scored boundaries whenever they got the opportunity against Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Pat Cummins.
Earlier, prolific batsman Steve Smith scored a brilliant hundred as Australia scored 338 before getting bundled out in the second session on Day Two.
Apart from Smith who scored 131 before getting run out, Marnus Labuschagne made a significant contribution of 91 before falling short of his fifth Test ton. Debutant opener Will Pucovski had also scored 62 on the rain-hit first day of the Test match.
For India, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 4/62 in his 18 overs.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini picked two wickets each while Mohammed Siraj scalped one. Ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, however, went wicket-less in the 24 overs he bowled and conceded 74 runs.
The four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide while India registering a win in the second in Melbourne.
Brief scores: India 26/0 at Tea (Rohit Sharma 11*, Shubman Gill 14*); Australia 338 all out (Steve Smith 131, Marnus Labuschagne 91; Ravindra Jajeja 4/62)
