Rohit Sharma played for the turn, confused, and the ball continued with an angle to rattle his stumps. The Australians’ jubilation said it all. For 32 minutes, the Indian captain, the sole centurion of the first Test, was back in the hut.

Australia roared back on Day 2 of the second Test against India in Delhi as Nathan Lyon dealt India one blow after another. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener in Nagpur, Lyon, who was overshadowed by Todd Murphy, showed his class by dismantling India’s top-order. In the morning session, the offspinner struck KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Cheteshwar Pujara with mostly similar deliveries from around the wicket. Shreyas Iyer, who returned to the team after recovering from an injury and took Suryakumar Yadav’s place, was also dismissed after a brief pause.

Lyon’s first victim was KL Rahul, who didn’t play well. He made it through the first half an hour, which included a few reviews, but in the 18th over, the great off-spinner beat him. After pitching it on the off stump, Lyon got one, but it only turned a little. As he does frequently, Rahul lunged forward with his bat and pad close together, but the turn ended his chances. He was struck in the knee roll after the ball missed his bat. The umpire raised his finger without hesitation. Rahul paused for a review, hoping that the turn would go past the leg stump. He had to go back for 17 because the call was made by the umpire.

Lyon got a bigger fish in the next over, possibly the biggest of them all based on current form. The ball did not turn this time, and he found the ideal length. Rohit didn’t move forward or back as he was deceived off a Lyon delivery.

The dismissal was perfectly summed up by Ravi Shastri, who was in the commentary box. He stated, “Caught in no man’s land.”

Next to go was Pujara, who was playing his 100th Test. He was lucky that Australia didn’t choose to review Lyon’s ball, but the next over, they didn’t make the same mistake. Similar to Rahul, Pujara exited the same way. His front pad was too close to the ball’s line, so it turned just enough to avoid the inside edge once more. The on-field umpire did not give Pujara the ball, but goalkeeper Alex Carey was absolutely certain that it was pad first. They attempted the review, and boom! The ball hit the stumps straight after it was pad-first.

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For the fourth wicket, Lyon was somewhat fortunate. More of Peter Handscomb’s wicket was involved. He successfully caught the forward short leg. Handscomb held firm and was able to grab the ball with the help of his legs and body, despite the fact that Iyer flicked it from the middle of the bat.