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Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne helped Australia to continue their dominance over India in the second session of the Boxing Day Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Thursday.
At Tea, Australia are at 176/2, with Steven Smith (10*) and Marnus Labuschagne (44*) unbeaten at the crease. Australia started the second session from 112/1, with Khawaja and Labuschagne on the crease. The two Aussie batters stitched a crucial partnership of 65 runs that helped the hosts get in the driver's seat. In the second session, Australia scored 64 runs. Meanwhile, it was a much better bowling performance from the visitors, even though they only managed to pick one wicket. In the 34th over, Khawaja sent the ball between second slip and gully for a four to get to his half-century. In the 45th over, Bumrah got rid of Khawaja for 57 runs from 121 balls. In the ongoing series, Bumrah has dismissed Khawaja five times. It was a slow innings for Khawaja but it helped Australia dominate India. In the second session, the Indian bowling attack was successful in keeping a check on the run rate. In the final session of the day, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne will be aiming to build a partnership and end Day 01 on a good note. Meanwhile, the visitors will be trying desperately to get wickets. Earlier in the day, Sam Konstas played fearless cricket at the MCG to give Australia an early advantage in the series. Konstas and Khawaja opened for the Aussies and cemented a partnership of 89 runs. The India bowling attack led by Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj struggled to get a breakthrough in the first session as the Aussies openers continued to build on their partnership. In the 14th over, Konstas smashed his maiden international fifty and became the second youngest to score a half-century for Australia in Test cricket. Konstas' blitz knock came to an end after Ravindra Jadeja came to the rescue of the visitors and removed the dangerous debutant from the crease in the 20th over. Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland. India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep. Brief score: Australia 176/2 (Marnus Labuschagne 57, Sam Konstas 60; Ravindra Jadeja 1/20) vs India. (ANI)
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