Nagpur, February 9: Ravindra Jadeja, who returned to international cricket after injury, took four wickets as India reduced Australia to 174 for eight at tea on the first day of the first cricket Test here on Thursday. Jadeja (4/45), returning from a knee injury, was well supported by off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2/41). Marnus Labuschagne (49) and Steve Smith (37) gave Australia a good comeback in the first session by adding 82 runs for the third wicket, but after the break of the pair, Alex Carey (36) and Peter Handscomb (29 not out) were the only Indian spinners. Can stand for a while in front of Carey and Handscomb also shared a quick 53-run partnership for the sixth wicket. At tea, Nathan Lyon was partnering Handscomb, who is yet to open his account.
Apart from Labushen, most of Australia’s batsmen were either dismissed by playing bad shots or failed to understand the line of the ball. Labushen came out ahead of the crease in an attempt to play Jadeja’s fast-spinning ball and debutant wicketkeeper Shrikar Bharat made no mistake in stumping him. He hit eight fours while facing 123 balls. After the dismissal of Labushen, Jadeja dominated the batsmen. Smith hit three fours on Akshar Patel but was bowled after missing Jadeja’s arm ball. Jadeja then lbw Matt Renshaw (00) on the first ball to reduce Australia’s score from 84 for two to 109 for five. Carey and Handscomb adopted an aggressive approach against the Indian bowlers, especially wicket-keeper batsman Carey. Carey hit some good boundaries with a reverse sweep but in an attempt to repeat the same shot off Ashwin, the ball was played on the wickets.
Ashwin had Australia captain Pat Cummins (06) caught by Kohli in the slips, while Jadeja gave Australia the eighth blow by lbw to debutant Todd Murphy (00). In the morning session, Cummins won the toss and elected to bat, after which Mohammed Shami (1/18) and Mohammed Siraj (1/30) dismissed openers Usman Khawaja (01) and David Warner (01) early. Sent but Labushen and Smith did not allow the spin trio of Jadeja, Akshar and Ashwin to dominate the rest of the first session. All Australian media claims about ‘wicket-tampering’ before the match turned out to be a hoax as the VCA stadium pitch looked to be India’s usual dry pitch with a lot of spinner help from the second day onwards.
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Spinners are getting turn from the wicket but that is normal on Indian pitches. Smith and Labushen, however, faced the Indian spinners strongly, showing their strong technique. Siraj lbw Khawaja on his very first ball of the match in the second over. The on-field umpire did not give him out but the decision went in India’s favor after taking DRS. Shami bowled Warner in the next over with an inside ball for the left-handed batsman. India looked in control but then world number one Test batsman Labuschagne took charge and played some eye-catching shots. He collected four runs off Ashwin’s cover drive after hitting a four off Akshar with a late cut.
