Internet Desk: Indian openers KL Rahul and Murali Vijay gave a solid start as the hosts reached 120 for 1 at the end of second day’s play in the third Test at Ranchi on Friday. Rahul carried on his good form with the bat in the series. The Karnataka batsman played a decent knock of 67 runs before getting out to Pat Cummins, who is playing his first Test match after six long years. Murali Vijay (42*) and Chestshwar Pujara (10*) were on crease at stumps.
India still need 132 runs to avoid the follow-on but with Virat Kohli’s fitness a concern, the job will be on other batsmen to help India post a substantial total.
Earlier, Smith (178*) held his end as Jadeja led India’s fight back with an eighth five-wicket haul in Tests. Glenn Maxwell (104) also contributed to the formidable first innings total with a hundred in his comeback game.
On a wicket, which is much easy to bat respective to the last two Tests, super Smith looked unstoppable on way to his 19th century. He continued from where he left off after resuming on an overnight 117 to surpass the highest score by an Australian captain in India, eclipsing Michael Clarke’s 130.
The skipper batted for more than eight and half hours facing 361 balls with 17 boundaries and was involved a series-high 191 partnership with Maxwell in an emotional Test comeback after more than two years.