On one hand, going into the Boxing Day match, every punter was still betting on the Indian side to do better and bounce back despite their dismal performance in the first match. Last time India was down under, they lost their first match only to fight back and take the series with two wins against one loss. As a matter of fact, Australia struggled to beat India at home or overseas for last four series underlining India’s strength in the longer format. On the other hand, everything was not going well in the visitor’s dressing room.
Indian skipper Shreyas Mehta called heads and waited for the Aussie skipper to make the decision. Aussie decided to bat. Continuing the good form from the Adelaide, Aussie played for five sessions and put 560 runs on board before declaring the inning. Indian started defensively but were bowled out under the three-hundred mark. A lead of 270 was not enough. Aussies were reluctant to bat on the last day due to the potent spin attack the Indian team possessed which was extremely dangerous on a crumbling wicket. Although the wicket was holding well and a sub-200 chase seemed plausible on the last day, the ghosts of Kolkata 2001 were still haunting the Aussie think tank.
Aussies batted through the rest of day three and the first session of day four adding two hundred brisk runs to their lead further adding to the torment of Indian bowling attack. They wanted to bat another ten overs to allow their players to complete individual fifties but rain spoiled the plan. Unexpected rains ate up the second session of the second last day of the match forcing the Aussies to declare with a lead of 475 runs. They wanted to take a bite at the Indian batting line-up before the end of the play.
The bite was bountiful. India was two down for fifty-five at sundown. The second wicket was done on the last ball of the day.
Sujoy Ghosh 
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