Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara cemented Indian position – 2nd Test vs. Australia

India 1-311 (Cheteshwar Pujara 162*, Murali Vijay 129*, Peter Siddle 1-51) leads Australia 9-237 declared (Michael Clarke 91, Matthew Wade 62, Ravindra Jadeja 3-33) by 74 runs.

The young guns of India, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara humiliated Australian bowling by powering tons and brought the home side to a strong position.

Australia declared their first innings for 237 after losing 9 wickets and India piled up 311 runs for the loss of  one mere wicket in 93 overs.

The second day of the 2^nd Test came to an end on Sunday, March 3, 2013, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.

Earlier, the hosts started their innings at five without losing any wicket, Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag were at the crease at 0 and 4 runs in 3 overs. The first wicket was lost at 17 when Sehwag was caught behind by Matthew Wade off Peter Siddle for just six runs. Cheteshwar Pujara joined in with Vijay and opened his account with a four in the 10^th over. The run rate was checked by the rival bowlers but the batsmen kept on crawling without taking any risk. The lunch break was taken after 30 overs and the home side reached 54 while Vijay and Pujara were in the center with 29 and 15 accordingly.

The scoring was steadied after the interval as Pujara hit 3 fours in the 35^th over and Vijay kept on consolidating from the other end. The first hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 42^nd over with a lofty six from Murali Vijay who also completed his fifty. Cheteshwar Pujara followed his partner by getting past his half century in the 51^st over with a four. The boundaries started sprinkling from the woods of the batsmen and Vijay added another 2 fours two overs later. The Australian bowlers remained unimpressive and even their spinners had no comparison with their counterparts. Both players were batting at 64 after the completion of 57 overs and were going side by side until the 63^rd over.

The second hundred of the innings was displayed on board in the 73^rd over with the assistance of 1 six and even four. Cheteshwar Pujara smashed his fourth Test century in his 11^th match on the last ball of the same over with two runs. Murali Vijay plundered his second Test hundred in the 78^th over with 2 fours and Pujara punished David Warner for 3 boundaries in the next over. The Australian captain, Michael Clarke, utilised all his five bowlers plus the part timer, David Warner, but the batsmen stood firm like a rock.

The boundaries kept on pouring as the pair could see the cherry just like a football and they were dispatching the ball out of the rope at their will. Pujara was the most aggressive of the two and rocketed towards his 150 mark in the 88^th over with a grand six on the third delivery of the 88^th over. Cheteshwar Pujara thrashed 162 off 251 balls with 1 six and 25 fours whereas Murali Vijay was in full command at the other end with 129 off 288 comprising 2 smart sixes and 17 fours. India hammered 311 for the loss of just one wicket in 93 overs at stumps on day two.

Team India is in a commanding position since they have gained a first innings lead of 74 runs with nine wickets still in hand and they are heading towards a consecutive win against Australia.