Australia v India: Boxing Day Test, day two – live!

125th over: India 298-3 (Pujara 106, Rahane 4) Shot. Rahane out of the blocks with a forceful slap through cover, a ball short of a length that never got up. Pujara did as he does best for the rest of the set, doing his best to exhaust Starc as soon as possible.

124th over: India 295-3 (Pujara 106, Rahane 1) Very good over from Cummins to back up Starc, attacking the stumps of Rahane then Pujara. Going back to that Kohli wicket, it was a fine set up by Starc, really getting his radar right on the short ball on a handful of occasions since lunch before the wicket ball arrived.

123rd over: India 293-3 (Pujara 105, Rahane 0) Finch didn’t miss his moment either, showing the ball to the Bay 13 loyalists. With one ball to face, Rahane copped a nasty one on the hip from Starc that he just managed to keep down. Life in this, at last!

The short ball gets the wicket! Kohli uppercuts to third man to Aaron Finch, taking the catch in front of Bay 13! The ball after pulling another short one with authority to the rope. The crowd are now chanting “Finchy”, the Victorian making his first major impression on his home ground as a Test player a very good one.

122nd over: India 285-2 (Pujara 104, Kohli 75) What is that you say? A bat beaten? You bet it is, Pujara nearly undone by a Cummins off-cutter that never really cuts. It even gets to Paine’s gloves at a catchable height, unlike a ball earlier in the over that evaded the ‘keeper on the bounce, spilling away for a bye.

121st over: India 284-2 (Pujara 104, Kohli 75) Starc resumes his short-pitched attack, Kohli taking the bait from the second ball but he doesn’t get it off the square. His pull later in the over is much more convincing, keeping the strike with the single. Is that “boring” that I can hear the crowd chanting between balls? Or Warnie? Anyone sitting in the outer with better hearing than me?

120th over: India 283-2 (Pujara 104, Kohli 74) Kohli leaves, defends then clips Cummins with complete ease for three forward of square, pulling up just before the rope. It’s hot out there but the captain is racing between the wickets; an all-run four could easily have been achieved had he been running with himself rather than Pujara.

“Pathetic individual I am,” begins Dominic Piper. “Despite living in Australia for more than 20 years, having an Australian wife and Australian kids I still enjoy nothing more than seeing their attack blunted and out of luck at the MCG. It’s taking all my efforts not to put my 2010/11 Ashes DVD on during the session breaks.”

You’ll probably like this too then, Dom. These Michael Slater comments are red hot.

119th over: India 280-2 (Pujara 104, Kohli 71) A couple out behind square for Kohli so Starc goes straight upstairs to begin his fresh spell. It’s a touch interesting that he’s only bowled 20 of the 119 overs sent down in this innings. It nearly works at Pujara after the captain gets off strike, his glove struck flush with the ball ballooning to backward square leg… but there is nobody there. “It is the first time they have used that strategy against Pujara,” Isa Guha notes on the telly. “And he’s on 104.” Well said. To finish the over, he nearly gloves one to Paine down the legside, lucky not to make contact. And there it is, the end of the most eventful over of the day.

Some more DK here on Seven’s twitter. I can’t wait to watch it all.

118th over: India 277-2 (Pujara 103, Kohli 69) It can only be disheartening for Cummins when bowling at Pujara’s big blade, defending the full offerings then turning off the hip when trying to give it some bite. So much for having to play himself back in.

“Scott Morrison begins to turn around polling numbers after announcing a royal commission into the Boxing Day pitch,” jokes Tom Middleton. I’ve heard crazier.

The players are back on the field. Pujara (103) and Kohli (69) returning to do their thing with India 277-2. Pat Cummins has the ball in his hand from the Great Southern Stand End. PLAY!

“Greetings, Adam.” Hello there, Seventh Horcrux. “So far, it’s been a good match to follow as an Indian supporter. However, I’d like to mention that people around me saying that we have lesser runs on the board than ideal reminds me of a phrase fellow Liverpool loyals repeat often: Never Unclench. 6 points clear at the halfway stage? Doesn’t matter. 2 down in the first innings at lunch on Day 2? Doesn’t matter.”

You might be able to unclench at tea. WinViz has Australia at 5% now and that might be 0.5% by the next break if these two are still batting.

“The Dennis Lillee interview,” writes Tom Middleton, “was the most enjoyable part of the cricket broadcast over the last 27 hours.” He was on Seven with Bruce during the break. Here is a taste of it from their feed. I’ll post more as they do.

There was a bit going on in Kevin Roberts’ chat on SEN earlier. He’s pretty good at not giving a grab that’s overly problematic but it is quite clear that he would rather Smith and Bancroft avoided Boxing Day for their big Foxtel interviews.

As for the reaction, it has been all over the place. Especially with Bancroft. The strongest theme (on twitter at least) is that his contradictory positions invalidated the whole thing; that specifying Warner’s role only made matters worse. What did you make of it? Ricky Ponting and Michael Slater were scathing before play.

117th over: India 2-277 (Pujara 103, Kohli 69) Nearly a catch! Mitchell Marsh can only grin and shake his head. He’s got a curious fielding position, with Aaron Finch right on the paint at point, about fifteen paces from the bat, wearing a helmet. Kohli stretched forward at a ball, gets a thick edge with the aid of a bit of away swing, it looked like, and the edge flies just to the right of Finch. He dived across but couldn’t reach it. Kohli gets a single to move to 69, but it did not look comfortable. Finch asks Marsh if he wants the field moved a bit, but Marsh shakes his head. That would have been a highly unusual dismissal in that position. Also unusual is a wide called for a ball outside off that looked fine, and a no-ball called on the front foot, which basically never happens. So four runs from the over in the end, and that is sandwich time.

116th over: India 2-273 (Pujara 102, Kohli 68) Pujara happy to be equally circumspect against Lyon, except for glancing a couple of runs away fine. Three minutes till lunch.

115th over: India 2-271 (Pujara 100, Kohli 68) Kohli keeps up his python routine. Squeeze the life out of them. Keep them out there in this heat all day. Lunch is approaching, too. So he blocks out another over of Mitchell Marsh.

114th over: India 2-271 (Pujara 100, Kohli 68) He’s only bloody gone and done it, hasn’t he?! Two centuries in the series for Cheteshwar Pujara. He hasn’t had the happiest career away from home, but now he has seven centuries in away Tests, and two of them in three matches here. Friendly conditions to do it in, sure, but you’ve still got to do it. I can’t imagine you or I would last very long out there against Australia’s bowlers.

He raises this one with a slightly uncultured whack down the ground – straight bat but a real thwack of the ball as Lyon pitched full. It worked, and that’s all that matters for the batsman. Lyon threw back his head in frustration at having conceded the milestone runs, probably hoping to bring pressure to bear by denying them for as long as possible.

113th over: India 2-267 (Pujara 96, Kohli 68) Marsh, to Kohli, who plays a kind of wristy slap, as though he were punishing the ball for being too wide. Naughty ball. Only gets a single, because they have a deep point out for him. And a third man. I don’t quite get it, he hasn’t played an aggressive stroke to this point all day. One slip, one gully, two covers, mid off, mid on, long leg. Pujara glances a single in that direction to move to 96.

112th over: India 2-265 (Pujara 95, Kohli 67) Kohli drives to long on again, he’s done that repeatedly against Lyon today. Singles each time. Pujara sees out the rest. He’s in no hurry to try for his hundred.

111th over: India 2-264 (Pujara 95, Kohli 66) Time for the relief bowler. Mitchell Marsh begins his heavy-footed tread to the bowling crease. Imagine being Mitch Marsh’s housemate if he had the room upstairs. Thud, whack, crash. You’d have to sleep when he was at training. His first over is on the money, straight and direct and blocked away by Pujara, the only score a brace into the gap at cover.

110th over: India 2-262 (Pujara 93, Kohli 66) Down the pitch again, and this time Pujara drives Lyon through the on side to pick up three.

Bad news for Australia: Pujara has reached the 90s on 18 occasions in Tests. He’s only been out once, against Australia last year on that goat track in Bangalore where his 92 was worth double.

109th over: India 2-259 (Pujara 90, Kohli 66) Officially confirmed: Kohli is in for the long haul. He wants to bat for three days, and either ensure the draw or leave Australia 700 behind and see if they fall over. This over from Hazlewood is met entirely with leaves.

108th over: India 2-259 (Pujara 90, Kohli 66) Pujara doesn’t let the outfield cost him this time, as he comes down the pitch to Lyon again and drives harder this time, out through cover for four. He’s been the dominant partner today, and he’s looked terrific doing it. Now he’s into the 90s.

107th over: India 2-255 (Pujara 86, Kohli 66) A cry of exultation goes up, involuntarily, from those around me as Kohli plays a straight drive. The sound was something like “Cawwwwrrrr!” The shot deserved it. Hazlewood bowls a bit too straight, a bit too full, scrambling the seam, the ball maybe sticking a touch in his hand. Kohli sends it past his batting partner and the umpire with the straightest of blades. Four.

106th over: India 2-251 (Pujara 86, Kohli 62) Down the track comes Pujara and drives Lyon through cover. The outfield has been pretty slow all match, and the batsmen run three. Kohli takes another run with his release shot to long on. Another little team milestone ticks by.

105th over: India 2-247 (Pujara 83, Kohli 61) Hazlewood to Kohli, another maiden to a watchful batsman.

If you want something to listen to while you read about this gently meandering match, you can try this interview that your OBO companions for today did with Harsha Bhogle, the celebrated Indian commentator. An in-depth talk about his life in broadcasting, and how he pulled it off, starting with taking the bus across town to a cricket match at the age of 19 and asking for a job.

The audio is here.

104th over: India 2-247 (Pujara 83, Kohli 61) We’ve had 31 runs in the hour so far, and now another single from Lyon’s over. It’s not racing along, I’ll grant you.

“Meanwhile the impeccable Trent Boult has taken 6 for 4 this morning to clean up Sri Lanka. That’s twenty wickets in less than four sessions in Christchurch. Best wishes,” emails Tim Hare. Yes, it’s fast forward cricket over there – first innings scores of 178 and 104 between the teams, and now NZ is batting again. Not just that, but Tim Southee is one lusty blow away from equalling Sachin Tendulkar for sixes hit in Test cricket. Tendulkar smashed 69. Nice indeed.

103rd over: India 2-246 (Pujara 83, Kohli 60) Incongruous, is Pujara. He’ll play the most patient, careful, watchful innings, but give him shortness and width and he’ll try to uppercut over the cordon every time. Hazlewood does so, but the ball climbs too steeply and Pujara is off his feet, leaping, trying to get his bat up to shoulder height, and failing to make contact. That’s bounce again, as Ian Forth notes in an email.

“The pitch has got plenty of bounce, hasn’t it? Is some of the hand wringing a product of India having the old school skills to come through the first day which opposition sides have traditionally failed to do?” Perhaps, and also hand-wringing from having been burned in the past. Viv Richards being knocked off the MCG wall by Ali Cook will take a long time to heal.

JH bowls a maiden, and that’s drinks.

102nd over: India 2-246 (Pujara 83, Kohli 60) Pujara blocks out most of the Lyon over before taking a late single.

101st over: India 2-245 (Pujara 82, Kohli 60) The Indian captain is living a charmed life – he was dropped by Paine off Starc yesterday, and now he edges another ball, this one from Hazlewood, just past second slip. Gets his first boundary of the day for it.

Lee Henderson gives a cheerful good morning on email and has sent me this reverie. It’s rather delightful, even if I don’t think it’s core premise holds true for the compelling contest of this session.

He sent it as regular paragraphs, but I think we can break this into blank verse.

Painting
Undercoated the ceiling here yesterday
then watched it dry.
It was slow attritional drying, the kind where purists
nod their heads and murmur ‘that’s proper drying’
None of this dry to the touch in twenty minutes
paint & giggle stuff let me tell you.

First coat of what the manufacturer calls ‘clotted cream’
is about to be rolled on
then the day’s entertainment begins.

Four hours is my tip, but the fellow tragic next to me
thinks there might be ‘something in it’
and suggests six.

It is tradition now to paint indoors
when the Boxing Test starts
and set up the swivel seats so we can check both contests
to decide which is most exciting.

Must go as there’s an indication a stroke
of the roller has gone astray.
Will report back.

100th over: India 2-241 (Pujara 82, Kohli 56) Now comes that cheer from the most populated corner of the Southern Stand again, as the unlikely local here, Nathan Lyon, is announced to bowl. Cummins has a well-earned rest at backward square leg. Harris is at deep square leg. Kohli gets off strike to long-on. The bat-pad catcher is on the off side for Pujara. There are two midwickets and a deeper set mid-on to stop Che playing with the spin to work a single.

99th over: India 2-240 (Pujara 82, Kohli 55) Finally a bowling change after nearly 45 minutes this morning, and it’s Josh Hazlewood to begin. Interesting, and a good move I thought, that Cummins was preferred to start off this morning. Could easily have brought a wicket. Pujara is happy to see off Long Tall Josh’s first effort.

98th over: India 2-240 (Pujara 82, Kohli 55) A patience game now from Cummins. Hangs four balls out in the channel and Kohli leaves them all. The following bouncer is straight and too high and this time Kohli is under it easy and early and casually. Defends the last ball.

97th over: India 2-240 (Pujara 82, Kohli 55) A boundary from Pujara, he has a couple today where Kohli has none. Opens the face to Starc deliberately I fancy, and slices the drive along the ground through the gully gap, reaching for a wider ball. Starc zings a bouncer past his gloves.

Gary’s on the tweets. And fair call here. It’s all so vague, isn’t it? So undefined.

96th over: India 2-236 (Pujara 78, Kohli 55) For the third time, hello. I’m starting to feel like Lionel Richie here. There is enough juice in the pitch to give Cummins a decent bouncer. It was too high to threaten Kohli in the end, but he was very ungainly in going under it, there was a hint of flinch in that. This after Cummins had beaten his edge yet again. Lyon may have dismissed Kohli more than anyone, but Cummins is the bowler who makes him look uncomfortable.

95th over: India 2-235 (Pujara 77, Kohli 55) On goes Starc. Pujara leaves where he can, defends the shorter balls when he must. Looks so in control even when batting isn’t fun. Another ball that over takes off through to Paine. If a bowler can get one of those to go at a batsman’s gloves… Pujara works a single fine from the last ball.

“Is it still a cat sick pitch?” emails Andrew Benton. “A wombat wee pitch? A platypus poo pitch? A koala krap pitch? Maybe a dingo doo pitch? It’s important to know these things you know, brings it all to life… natural life.”

Somebody’s been given the Big Book of Australian Wildlife for Christmas.

94th over: India 2-234 (Pujara 76, Kohli 55) The perils of speaking too soon. About comfortable batsmen I mean. Cummins draws another false shot from Kohli who gets an edged single, then rushes through Pujara and hits him on the hip for a leg bye. And to follow beats Kohli with a beauty. Lovely stuff, but it doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t get him out. Kohli is the type who’s happy to weather the storm, however long it lasts. He collects another couple of leg byes to close the over.

“Can you explain to me why the MCG wicket is continually like this?” asks Ruth Purdue. “It feels like every year now.” Mainly because it’s a very old wicket square, and the soil is old and tired. They’re laying a new square after this summer. But I don’t think this pitch is anywhere near as bad as last year. There has been some life for the bowlers.

93rd over: India 2-230 (Pujara 76, Kohli 54) Hello again! Starc gets some swing away from Kohli, who plays an airy drive that ends up missing by a margin. The ball then takes off again, as one did from a fuller length yesterday, and Paine catches it above his head, startled and falling backwards with the take. Starc tries the same again, but a bit closer to the stumps, and Kohli drives. “Shot!” say various people around me, which is obligatory from a spectator when the ball goes through cover, but it wasn’t that good a shot. It made a clunky tinny sound off the bat, mistimed off the outside half, and dribbled away for three without ever threatening the boundary.

92nd over: India 2-227 (Pujara 76, Kohli 51) Cummins settles into another lovely bit of work. Draws a couple of defensive shots from Pujara, sends him downstairs with a bouncer, then beats his edge. Classy stuff, maybe his first over was a matter of getting warmed up.

91st over: India 2-227 (Pujara 76, Kohli 51) Hello, Starc is getting the new(ish) ball to swing. So it’s not all a batsman’s paradise out there. Pujara gets a fat edge into the ground and through the cordon for a lucky four, then another ball hooping at his legs that he gets enough bat on to find three through a leg-side gap. Runs coming, but on the bowler’s terms.

90th over: India 2-219 (Pujara 69, Kohli 50) And it will be Cummins to begin, bowling from the Great Southern Stand end of the MCG. No milestone dramas for the Indian captain, as Kohli drives fluently through midwicket for three to raise his fifty. Pujara gave him the opportunity by handing him strike with a single to take his own score to 69. Nice. Ominously for Australia, India’s batsmen already look very settled on this surface.

Pat Cummins was the only one to extract success from the pitch yesterday, and he did so with sheer brute force. Slammed in his short deliveries and got something, though I suspect both his wickets came from batsmen expecting the short ball to get up higher than it did, and being caught halfway through evasion when the ball stayed a bit lower. Still, Cummins has quickly become Australia’s mainstay when things get really tough. He’s the one who just keeps bashing away and often finds a way through.

Here’s the take from one Vic quick. But then, they are going to scrap it and start again, as of next year with an entirely relaid wicket square.

Now then. The pitch. A lot of people have been piling in already, saying that it’s dull and dead and dross. Maybe it is, but I’d like to wait a couple more days before drawing that conclusion. It’s certainly a bit slow, but Mayank Agarwal said it was doing a bit early, to coin a phrase, on day one, and perhaps it has a few tricks in store.