IND vs AUS 2022-23, 1st Test: Murphy's fifer not enough as Jadeja-Axar pile pressure on Australia on Day 2

It was another productive day for India on Day 2 of the opening Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Being played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur on Friday, the hosts have managed to extend their first-innings lead by 144 runs. Despite off-spinner Todd Murphy grabbing a fifer, Rohit Sharma's century, aided by Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel's unbeaten 81-run partnership, has made things difficult for the visitors.

Resuming at the overnight score of 77/1, the Indians barely produced any convincing stand and lost five more wickets, reaching 168/5. At this time, Rohit (120) brought up his ninth Test ton before falling to skipper-cum-pacer Pat Cummins, who knocked him over after a 61-run stand with Jadeja (66).

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While India was quickly down to 240/7, Jadeja and Axar (52) took control for the rest of the session, as the two also struck their 18th and second Test half-centuries, respectively. At stumps, the hosts were 321/7, whereas a couple of dropped chances also heavily aided them.

For the Aussies, six bowlers were used, while Murphy was on fire, as he grasped four on Friday, having already dismissed KL Rahul (20) on Thursday. As for his Day 2 dismissals, they were Ravichandran Ashwin (23), Cheteshwar Pujara (7), Virat Kohli (12) and KS Bharat (8). Besides Murphy and Cummins, veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon also had the prized wicket of Suryakumar Yadav (8), while pacer Scott Boland remained their most economical bowler.