Indian skipper Ajinkya Rahane led from the front by scoring an unbeaten 104, to put India in a commanding position on day two of the Boxing Day Test against Australia on Sunday.
Resuming on 36/1, the overnight pair of Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara looking confident and saw the initial spells through.
Gill looked good in his innings of 45, before being caught by Tim Paine off Pat Cummins.
Pujara’s poor run with the bat continued as he became Cummins second victim for 17.
The pair of Rahane and Hanuma Vihari stitched together a valuable 52 run stand for the fourth wicket, before the latter fell to Nathan Lyon.
Rishabh Pant, who came in at the fall of Vihari’s wicket, added 57 runs for the fifth wicket before the former was caught behind off Mitchell Starc to give his 250th Test wicket.
Skipper who had three reprieves- One on 57 and on 73 when Steve Smith dropped a catch at second slip. In the final over of the day he was dropped again on 104 by a diving Travis Head at point of the bowling off Starc.
The 32 year old Rahane played a captain’s knock and reached his 12th Test century, as the visitors ended Day 2 at 277/5, with an overall lead of 82 runs.
The skipper remained unbeaten on 104, while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was not out on 40. The duo added an unbeaten 104 runs for the sixth wicket.
Stumps at the end of Day 2 ( India 277/5, Ajinkya Rahane 104*, Ravi Jadeja 40*) Pat Cummins 2/71, M Starc 2/61 & Nathan Lyon 1/52.