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India off to racy start after Australia’s 428

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Virender SehwagIndia have smashed 110 for 2 in just 21 overs by Stumps on Day 2 in reply to Australia’s 1st innings total of 428. Virender Sehwag provided the racy start with a 54-ball 59 (with 10 fours) before getting a leading edge off Mitchell Johnson a few minutes before the close.

The hosts have got Rahul Dravid batting well on 21 (from 28 balls with 4 fours) with night watchman Ishant Sharma to give him company at the start of Day 3. India are trailing behind by 318 runs on what is a slow placid pitch. India were off to a solid opening start of 81 in 13.2 overs before Gautam Gambhir (25) got pinned on the backpad by a Mitchell Johnson delivery. Apart from Johnson, the rest of the bowlers were not up to the mark in sustaining any sort of impression on the Indian batsmen.

Australia resuming Day 2 on 224 for 5 crawled their way towards 428 in 151.4 overs with overnight batsman Tim Paine batting for more than two full session to come up with a career best of 92. Paine faced 196 balls and struck a dozen fours in that patient knock. Shane Watson on the other hand continued to work hard for his runs before he got a sharp turner from Harbhajan to be dismissed on 126 (from 338 balls with 10 fours). Mitchell Johnson also chipped in with a useful 47 which included three sixes. For India, Zaheer Khan claimed his 10th five-wicket haul.