Australia v India Second Test, Day Two Report Card

Featuring Marnus reboots, strange twisted otherworlds, hexadecimal run-scoring, anointing the villain of the series and magnificent derangement

Marnus Reboots
Grade: B-

Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney resumed on the second day and looked immediately comfortable, despite Jasprit Bumrah opening the bowling.

In fact, so comfortable did they look that at one point, I felt sufficiently cocky that I took my eyes off Bumrah for a delivery to get some mini-pizzas out of the oven. An astonishing and delicious turning point in the series so far. (Of course, an over or so later, Bumrah had McSweeney edging behind, for 39. I saw that one.)

Labuschagne, however, suddenly seemed to be back to his very best, raising the question of whether they accidentally rebooted Marnus when they turned the lights off and on last night.

He saw off the Bumrah threat, thumped the other bowlers to the boundary and even survived the loss of batting and life partner Steve Smith, strangled (not literally) by Bumrah for just two.

Smith left the ground, visibly furious at his dismissal. As the old saying goes, find someone who disgusts you as much as Steve Smith disgusts himself when he’s out.

Should Australia have tried turning the lights on, then off, then on again while Smith was in the middle? Look, it would have been worth a try. But they’d have needed to be quick.

Strange, Twisted Otherworlds
Grade: C

Labuschagne couldn’t quite get Australia to the lead, however, caught sharply in the gully by Yashasvi Jaiswal for 64.

Instead, the task of dragging Australia in front of India for the first time this series fell to Travis Head and Mitch Marsh.

So confused was Marsh by this strange, twisted otherworld of an Australian lead in which he found himself, that he was promptly caught behind off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin. Or ‘caught behind’, as it turned out that he hadn’t edged the ball at all.

BAD AI IMAGE OF: A twisted otherworld of cricket

Still, walking for a catch you didn’t hit is one way of avoiding being dismissed by Bumrah. Good lateral thinking from the bison.

Hexadecimal Run-Scoring
Grade: A-

No matter. Travis Head was still out there. And he decided it was time for one of his patented Thrash-A-Lot Tons.

(FUN FACT: Travis has ‘Head’ written on his shirt to remind him which hole to put it through.)