Takes five-for as Australia skittle out for 177
Captain Rohit Sharma hits unbeaten half century as India make 77-1 on opening day of first Test
By Paritosh Pramanik
NAGPUR, Feb 9
LAST September during the Asia Cup, Ravindra Jadeja injured his knee and was out of India set-up for quite a while. During the recovery course he missed the T20 World Cup held in Australia as well.
After four months, a fit-again Jadeja returned to the field for Saurashtra with a bang. He picked up eight wickets against Tamil Nadu in a Ranji match sending warning to his rivals that he is back to his best.
On Thursday at VCA Jamtha Stadium, the pony tailed spinner wreaked havoc as he took his 11th five-wicket haul which saw Australia skittle out for 177 under 64 overs on the first day of the first Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India then knocked off 77 runs for the loss of KL Rahul who got out in the penultimate over of the day. Captain Rohit Sharma
was unbeaten on 56 in
company of night-watchman Ravichandran Ashwin (0).
For more than a week before the Test, all talk was about the spinning Jamtha track but it was Indian seamers Mohd Siraj and Mohd Shami who shattered Australia’s confidence with two wickets in the first three overs. Jadeja then broke Australia’s back taking five wickets to see the visitors bundle out in 4.5 overs after tea. Ashwin took the other three important wickets.
India made an aggressive start to their chase with Sharma hitting three boundaries from the first over of their innings. He and KL Rahul (20) batted without any trouble playing against spinners Nathan Lyon or Todd Murphy. Sharma was more severe on the Australian bowlers hitting nine fours and six in his unfinished innings. India raced to 50 runs in 15.3 overs with the captain
scoring bulk of runs. He
completed his half century with a sweep off Nathan Lyon
two overs before the end of day’s play.
In the morning, Siraj made an instant impact, trapping Usman Khawaja (1) in front on his first delivery. The ball swung back and kept relatively low to bang on Khawaja’s pads. India took the review just on the stroke of the last second and got immediate success. Next over, first ball, Shami got David Warner (1) as the ball banged onto the top of the off stump sending it cart-wheeling.
Australia’s trusted pair of Marnus Labuschagne (49) and Steve Smith (37) then showed how to bat against spinners and added 82 runs for the third wicket. Both looked at ease while tackling Jadeja and Axar Patel despite walking in under pressure.
They used their feet to perfection by going down to the reach of the turning deliveries. The Australians went into lunch break 76-2.
Indians waited for their chances. They knew it wouldn’t be too long for the Australians to commit a mistake. After lunch, the spinners found that chink in Australian batting as six wickets fell
during that period, all to the slow bowlers.
A few overs after lunch, Jadeja gave India the much-needed breakthrough with two wickets in two balls. He first forced Labuschagne to step out only to see the batter stumped. Needing a single to complete his half century, Labuschagne stepped out to guide the ball for a single but completely missed the turn and an agile debutant
wicketkeeper KS Bharat rattled the stumps. The next delivery was a straighter one and new man Matthew Renshaw could not read it to be trapped leg before. A few overs later, Jadeja got the big fish in Smith who presumed that the ball would turn but it went through the gap between his bat and pad.
“I tried to bowl to the stumps as there was no bounce and the ball was keeping low. We knew we would get wickets only we needed to remain patient,” said Jadeja after the day’s play.
Peter Handscomb (31) and Alex Carey (36) tried to dominate Indian spinners and added 53 runs from 68
deliveries for the sixth wicket before the latter was cleaned up by Ashwin, to become the second highest wicket-taker for India with 451 scalps. Two deliveries later, he found an edge of rival captain Pat Cummins and Kohli took the catch at the lone slip.
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