IND vs AUS 4th Test, Day 2 Tea: Pant shows some power after Pujara's masterpiece; IND 491/6

IND vs AUS 4th Test, Day 2 Tea: At the break, Pant was unbeaten on 88 runs, while Ravindra Jadeja was batting on 25 not out.

After Cheteshwar Pujara missed out on his double ton by 7 runs, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant took the charge and was inching closer to his 2^nd Test ton on the second day of the Sydney Test. India posted a colossal 491 for 6 at tea on day two of the fourth Test against Australia here on Friday.

At the break, Pant was unbeaten on 88 runs, while Ravindra Jadeja was batting on 25 not out.

Post lunch, there were no signs of India speeding up the run-rate in order to declare quickly as the two batsmen batted as resolutely as in the morning. India crossed 400 in the 123rd over with Pant and Pujara bringing up their 50-run partnership off 74 balls. In all, they added 89 runs for the sixth wicket.

Pujara got a life on 192 when Usman Khawaja dropped him at slip off Nathan Lyon (3-144) in the 126th over.  But the batsman couldn't score his first overseas Test double hundred and offered a tired return catch to Lyon four overs later.

He walked off to a standing ovation from the SCG ground, as Jadeja took guard.

The new partnership was also slow off the blocks scoring at just about 3 runs per over for the first eight overs.

But they slowly changed gears after Pant had reached his third Test half-century off 85 balls. He shared 73 off 96 balls for the unbeaten seventh wicket with Jadeja, as the Australian bowlers looked tired and listless.

Earlier, India reached 389-5 at lunch. Starting from overnight 303-4, Pujara took his fifth-wicket partnership with Hanuma Vihari (42) to 101 runs. The duo came out with the intent to grind down the Australian bowling attack and looked content with batting for time.

However, Vihari's hard work went to waste when he was given out after the faintest blip on Snickometer and the decision stayed in Australia's favour despite Vihari's quick DRS review.

Pant, on 8, had a loud shout for caught behind turned down in the 106th over as Tim Paine called for a DRS review. But there was nothing and he batted on.

Pujara crossed few milestones during this morning session. Firstly, he went past 153, his previous highest overseas Test score, against both South Africa (Johannesburg, 2013) and Sri Lanka (Galle, 2017).

He also became only the third Indian batsman to score 500-plus runs in a Test series against Australia, after Rahul Dravid in 2003-04 and Virat Kohli in 2014-15.