Published on 12:00 AM, December 16, 2018

Kohli, Rahane propel India

Virat Kohli cast aside any concerns about his latest failures in Australia -- which stretched to 83 runs from his past seven Test innings at an average of less than 12 -- as he came out with the score on two for eight and played an immaculate knock on the second day of the second Test in Perth yesterday. The right-hander finished the day unbeaten on 82 after negotiating 181 balls. PHOTO: AFP
Afp, Perth

India expect 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 hattrick, 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.”

Up 1-0 in the four-Test series, India made a terrible start to their first innings after cleaning up the Australian tail in the morning session, before Kohli came to the rescue.

With the last ball before lunch, left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc found a gap between opener Murali Vijay's bat and pad to send his stumps flying for a 12-ball duck.

Shortly after play resumed both openers were gone, with Josh Hazlewood getting through KL Rahul's defences to bowl him for two with India slumping to eight for two on what appeared a tricky pitch on the first day.

SCORES IN BRIEF

AUSTRALIA: First innings 326 all out (Harris 70, Finch 50, Marsh 45, Head 58, Paine 38; Sharma 4-41, Bumrah 2-53, Yadav 2-78, Vihari 2-53)

INDIA: First innings 172 for 3 (Pujara 24, Kohli 82 not out, Rahane 51 not out; Starc 2-42)

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