Skipper Virat Kohli leads Indian fight back against Australia
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PERTH - India expects captain Virat Kohli to continue to lead from the front after he guided their fightback on day two of the second Test against Australia at Perth on Saturday.
At stumps, the visitors had overcome a terrible start and were 172 for three, still trailing the Australian first innings total of 326 by 154 runs with seven wickets in hand.
The imperious Kohli was unbeaten on 82 and shaping as the major stumbling block for Australia, with Ajinkya Rahane also in fine form on 51, the pair having added 90 for the third wicket.
Paceman Ishant Sharma, who claimed four first innings wickets and will start the Australian second innings on a hat-trick, said the game was still evenly poised.
However, he believe Kohli is their trump card heading into day three.
"We feel pretty confident whenever he is batting," he said of Kohli. "We finished the day in a strong position.
"It’s equal right now, hopefully we’ll win the first session tomorrow and turn the game in our favour."
Australian batsman Usman Khawaja admitted Kohli was the prized wicket, but believed his team still held the upper hand. "We’re still ahead of the game in a lot of respects," Khawaja said.
"Virat’s a good batsman, he respects good balls and tries to put away bad ones. "It took them 70 overs to get 170, so I still think one or two wickets hopefully in the first session on Sunday will be pretty big for us." - APP/AFP
