Jadeja leads Australia's rout, India take 2-0 series lead

NEW DELHI: Ravindra Jadeja led the demolition of Australia with the ball as India triumphed by six wickets inside three days in the second test to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 2-0 lead in the four-match series on Sunday. Jadeja claimed a career-best 7-42 as he and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-59) routed Australia for a paltry 113 in their second innings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Chasing 115 for victory, India's top order did wobble but the meagre target meant their victory, which came in the second session on day three, was never in doubt. Skipper Rohit Sharma made 31 and Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 31 not out, scored the winning run in his 100th test.

"It's been a great test match," Pujara said after guiding India to 118-4. "It is really special feeling hitting the last boundary. We are still looking to win the next two test matches." India, who also had triumphed inside three days in the opening test in Nagpur, too, are now on the verge of qualifying for the World Test Championship final in June.

Jadeja was adjudged player-of-the-match for his match haul of 10 wickets. "Fantastic result for us," Rohit said. "Looking at how things were yesterday. How we came back and finished the job was a great effort, particularly from the bowlers."

Earlier, resuming on a promising 61-1, Australia added 52 runs before Jadeja and Ashwin engineered a spectacular collapse. Asked to open in place of a concussed David Warner, Travis Head drove the third ball of the day from Ashwin for a boundary to signal his attacking intent.

The off-spinner, however, had his revenge three balls later when he drew Head (43) forward to induce an edge that Srikar Bharat collected behind the stumps. Once Jadeja sent back Marnus Labuschagne (35), the wheels came off Australia's innings with nine of the 11 batsmen posting single digit scores.

On a pitch where spinners ruled the roost, several Australian batsmen fluffed their sweep shots to be either bowled or lbw. "I thought 260 was a decent score on that first day wicket (but India) batted quite well," Australia skipper Pat Cummins said, referring to their first-innings 263.

"I think this one is particularly disappointing, having been ahead of the game for a lot of it. Those opportunities don't come often in India, so you've got to grab them. "So unfortunately we missed this one so, yeah, this one hurts a bit."

"So the review over the next few days will be what we could have done differently." The third test in Indore will begin on March 1.