Australia's Test hopes fade against India's tail

SUMMARY: India fought back through opener KL Rahul (84) and allrounder Ravindra Jadeja (77) to avoid the follow-on after Australia paceman Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the Test with a calf injury. The heroes for India were tailenders Akash Deep (27no) and Jasprit Bumrah (10no) who added an unbeaten 39 to make sure Australia will bat in the third innings of the match. Australia had earlier made 445 in their first innings.

THE MOMENT: The calf injury to Josh Hazlewood has ramifications for this Test and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. A pivotal moment was when Hazlewood left the field after bowling just one over. He had earlier tweaked his right calf in the warm-up and may yet miss the remaining two Tests of the series. Australia were then left to rely heavily on Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who bowled 44.5 overs between them.

THE PLAYER: No.11 Akash Deep, with a previous highest Test score of 17, played a magnificent innings under pressure to likely ensure India saves the game. He avoided the follow-on with a steer over gully and then hit Cummins for six over mid-on.   

THE STAT: India captain Rohit Sharma (10) has averaged just 11.69 in his past 13 innings.