Aussies hit back

In First-Class cricket,Pujara and Rahane have been teammates in 16 matches. In those matches,Rahane has opened the batting in 12 innings,and Pujara just once.

Nonetheless,it was Pujara who faced the new ball as India began their response to Australias 262 on a Ferozeshah Kotla track marked by a pattern of cracks that resembled capillaries in a map of the circulatory system.

Pattinsons first ball had hit one of these cracks.

Pattinsons second ball was short and a touch wide of off stump. Pujara punched it in front of point for four. Later in the over,Pujara tickled a full delivery off his toes to the fine leg boundary.

Second ball of the next over,Mitchell Johnson banged one in from left-arm over. The ball kissed Pujaras right glove 8211; which he had hurriedly taken off his bat handle 8211; and climbed way over Wades head before it landed on the advertising sign painted halfway to the boundary before rolling away for four leg byes. Two balls later,Pujara drove Johnson down the ground for four.

At lunch,India were 59 for no loss. Immediately after resumption,the physio ran onto the field when a Pattinson delivery smacked Pujara on the gloves.

The next ball was of similar length. Pujara opened his bat-face to steer it past slip for four. In the next over,he drove Peter Siddle to the cover point boundary to move to 40 off 50 balls.

Nine overs later,Nathan Lyon bowled Pujara for 52. The batsman had pushed forward,playing for the off break,but the ball went with the angle past his outside edge. India were 108 for one.

The Australian bowlers had given Pujara frequent reminders of how capricious the pitch was. But he hadnt let those incidents affect his footwork or decision-making. This might have been only the second time in six instances that he had crossed 50 and failed to make a hundred,but for his serenity in difficult conditions,it was perhaps his best innings yet,rivalled only by his 135 against England in Mumbai.

Vijay struggles but scores

Vijays struggles at the other end put Pujaras knock in perspective. Early on,he thrice edged Johnson through the slips for four. When he returned after lunch,Johnson went around the wicket. In the second over of that spell,he got three successive deliveries to straighten off the pitch,twice beating Vijay and once finding his edge.

But Vijay made the loose balls count too. In the morning,he clipped Pattinson elegantly off his pads,and after those three torturous Johnson deliveries post-lunch,he glanced him neatly for another four. Against Lyon,he stepped confidently down the track,hitting him once over mid off and once over midwicket.

Between conceding those two fours to Vijay,Lyon dismissed Kohli,getting him LBW from around the wicket. Halfway forward and nowhere near the pitch,Kohli looked to work the ball square. But the ball didnt turn as much as expected,and went past his closed bat-face to strike him plumb in front. Soon,Lyon nearly had Sachin Tendulkar LBW on the sweep,but the umpire remained unmoved even though the ball had pitched on middle and struck him low on his pads in front of middle.

Tendulkar opened the post-tea session,which began with India 135 for two,with two cracking fours off Peter Siddle,the first flicked off his pads and the second sliced away to the point boundary.

In his next over,Siddle banged one in exaggeratedly short. Ducking,Vijay saw the ball loom at his helmet rather than sail above it,and raised his gloves to protect himself,only managing to fend it to the keeper.

In walked Rahane,and in came the field. The debutants innings lasted 18 nervous deliveries before he plopped Lyon straight into leg slips hands while trying to work the 19th into the leg side. In his next over,Lyon removed Tendulkar,LBW to a sharply turning delivery that pinned him deep in the crease.

Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja then added 30,before the former pulled a slower ball from Pattinson straight to a cannily positioned short midwicket. At that point,India were still 42 behind.

By the time Lyon ended the day with his fifth wicket 8211; turning one sharply into R Ashwin to win his third LBW decision,India had gone four runs ahead. This had been possible thanks to a vital innings from their number seven.

Jadeja,whose left-handedness gave him a counter-intuitive advantage against Lyon on this wicket,scored 31 off 18 balls against the off spinner,making good use of the cut whenever he dropped slightly short 8211; the extra turn and bounce working against the bowler by providing the batsman width 8211; and twice swinging him back over his head for four. But Glenn Maxwell,another off spinner,sent Jadeja back with one that didnt turn as he offered no shot.