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India captain Rohit Sharma smashed an unbeaten half-century after Ravindra Jadeja claimed a fifer as India bowled out Australia for 177 in their first innings on Day 1 of the first Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, on Thursday.
While there was too much focus on the pitch described by the Australians as “doctored” and tailor-made for the Indian spinners, Jadeja claimed 5/47 in his first Test after a five-month injury break while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked 3/43 to put India in control as Australia were reduced to 177/10 in their first innings.
This was Jadeja’s 11th five-wicket haul in Test cricket, and his 4th five-wicket haul against Australia.
Rohit smashed his fifty off 66 deliveries and added a 76-run opening partnership with his partner KL Rahul as India almost had a perfect day before Rahul got out caught and bowled by debutant off-spinner Todd Murphy in the second last over of the day.
Interestingly, Ravichandran Ashwin was sent in to bat at No.3 as night-watchman with India closing their innings on 77/1 at stumps on Day 1. Rohit remained unbeaten on 56 off 69 balls, hitting nine fours and a six, with Ashwin yet to open his account as India trail Australia by 100 runs with nine wickets in hand.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Australia had the worst possible start of the four-match Test series as they were 2-2 in the third over itself with both the openers – Usman Khawaja and David Warner – getting out on 1 run each off Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammad Shami respectively.
Debutant Todd Murphy breaks the opening stand but India finish the opening day of the Nagpur Test on top.#WTC23 | #INDvAUS | 📝 https://t.co/rzMJy0hUFm pic.twitter.com/cir0bmZWMy
— ICC (@ICC) February 9, 2023
However, the visitors fought back as Marnus Labuschagne (49 off 123) and Steve Smith (37 off 107) added a vital 82-run partnership off 202 balls for the third wicket as Australia ended at 76/2 in 32 overs at Lunch.
In the fourth over after Lunch, Jadeja broke the dangerous-looking partnership of Labuschagne and Smith as he invited Labuschagne to drive out of his crease with the ball spinning away from him to beat his outside edge with debutant KS Bharat doing the rest to quickly stump him.
On the very next ball, Australia fell to 84/4 when left-hander Matt Renshaw was caught plumb by Jadeja with a delivery that turned big and went past the edge to hit his front pad.
After his dismissal, Peter Handscomb (31 off 84) and Alex Carey (36 off 33) played some attacking strokes to raise a 53-run partnership for the sixth wicket in just 68 balls.
Carey was the more aggressive of the two, smashing seven boundaries before becoming a victim of Ashwin as the Aussie keeper bottom-edged into the stumps and got out bowled. This was Ashwin’s 450th Test wicket in Tests. He is now the ninth bowler and third off-spinner to achieve this landmark. Carey’s dismissal was another delivery which kept low as Australia were down to 162/6 in the 54th over.
Australia lost their final four wickets for just 15 runs as India were successful in quickly cleaning up the tail which they struggled to do in their previous Test matches. Jadeja completed his five-wicket haul when he dismissed Todd Murphy lbw on 0.
Only four Australian batters were successful in reaching the double-figure mark as the Indian bowlers dominated on the opening day of the first Test.
In reply, India started the innings on a positive note with Rohit hitting 3 fours in the first over off Cummins. While Rohit looked quite comfortable and scored boundaries at regular intervals, Rahul looked cautious and was taking his time to support Rohit on the other end.
Rohit completed his half-century in 66 balls with a paddle sweep for four to off-spinner Nathan Lyon. The Rohit-Rahul duo were looking comfortable at the crease as India were almost close to end the day without the loss of any wicket.
However, after adding a solid 76-run opening partnership, Rahul got dismissed caught and bowled on 20 off 71 in the second last over of the day. Moving forward on Day 2, India will look to bat as much as possible and try to get a lead of at least 150-200 runs so that they can put pressure on Australia.
Brief Scores: India 77/1 in 24 overs (Rohit Sharma 56*, Kl Rahul 20, Murphy 1-13) trail Australia 177/10 in 63.5 overs (Marnus Labouchagne 49, Steve Smith 37, Alex Carey 36, Peter Handscombe 31; Ravindra Jadeja 5/47, Ashwin 3/42) by 100 runs.
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