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KL Rahul imposed his dominance in Test cricket following his flawless display against Australia, which saw him go level with the legendary opener Virender Shewag for an elusive Test feat for India.
When the odds were stacked against Rahul amid his struggle for runs in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener, he upped the ante against India's fierce rival. In the first innings, Rahul showed signs of returning to his groove with a well-composed 26 off 74 deliveries under challenging conditions. But in his second outing, Rahul upped the ante and effortlessly negated the threat posed by the Australia bowling unit. He forged an unbeaten 172-run partnership alongside his colleague Yashasvi Jaiswal to propel India's score to 172/0 at stumps on Day 2. This is India's highest opening stand in Tests in Australia since the 2004 SCG Test, where Virender Sehwag and Aakash Chopra put on 123. Overall, the highest partnership is held by Sunil Gavaskar and Krishnamachari Srikkanth who stitched up a 191-run partnership in Sydney in 1986. This was the third instance of Rahul being involved in 100-plus opening partnerships in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) countries since 2000. He levelled Sehwag's record, who has been involved in three 100-plus opening partnerships in SENA countries. Former cricketers Akash Chopra, Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik have been involved twice in opening partnerships in SENA nations. By displaying his quality footwork, Rahul stayed unbeaten with a score of 62(153) while Jaiswal hammered an unbeaten 90(193), which has put India in possession of a commanding 218-run lead. The 32-year-old wasn't the only Indian player to impose his authority in SENA countries. Stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah was another player who stamped his dominance in the challenging conditions of Perth. Bumrah was the mastermind behind Australia succumbing to a total of 104. Mohammed Siraj and debutant Harshit Rana turned out to be the ideal support as the trio gave no window of opportunity to turn the tides. With figures of 5/30, Bumrah bagged his 11th Test five-wicket haul on Day 2 of the opening Test. This was his seventh five-fer for Bumrah in SENA countries. (ANI)
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