Australia finished day two on top as India struggled to set foot right in Melbourne. Riding on Steve Smith’s fascinating 140, the hosts piled up a mammoth 474 in the first innings.

Despite two early wickets, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal solidified India’s grip in the match. But a mix-up between the two saw Jaiswal run out and triggered a collapse as the visitors ended day two with 164 runs on the board at the expense of five wickets.

One player who hasn’t really fired up in this Test series with the ball is Mohammed Siraj, Siraj was one of the talking points due to his previous performance on Australian soil. He took 13 wickets in the 2012 Border Gavaskar Trophy but has failed to replicate his magic this time attracting severe criticism.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar believes Siraj should be given a rest and both Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna should be included in the starting lineup to support Jasprit Bumrah.

He told Star Sports,“I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break," Gavaskar told Star Sports. “In the sense that, I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can’t beat around the bush. You need to be brutally upfront and say ‘look, your performance has not been up to scratch and therefore you are being dropped’. When you start talking about ‘rest’, players get wrong ideas. They feel they don’t need to up their game."

“But I think Siraj needs to be told ‘look, you are not bowling as well as we expected you to on pitches that have been helpful’. That is something that needs to be told. If you want to make two changes. Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana to support Jasprit Bumrah. By all means, do that."

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