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Indore Test: Aussie spinners dismiss India for 109 on Day 1
The visitors, 0-2 down in the series, were 156/4 in reply, a lead of 47 runs; 14 wickets fell on Day 1 of the third Test, being played on a turning track of variable bounce
A large metallic bell, installed ahead of the third Test between India and Australia, was rung before the first ball to mark the start of play at Holkar Stadium on Wednesday. Soon enough, it was alarm bells that were ringing for the batters thanks to a raging turner showing variable bounce. Seven wickets fell by the lunch break – the average turn was 4.9 degrees in the first session – and three more perished half an hour after the resumption as India were skittled for 109 in 33.2 overs. Australia left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann, playing his second Test, claimed 5/16 while off-spinners Nathan Lyon (3/35) and Todd Murphy (1/23) shared four wickets.
Australia ended a chaotic opening day on 156/4, with a handy lead of 47 runs. Usman Khawaja top-scored with 60 for the visitors while Ravindra Jadeja snaffled all four Australian wickets.
The pandemonium in India’s innings was best summed up by Rohit Sharma’s 25-minute stay at the crease. In his 16-year international career, it’s unlikely he would have endured a more tortuous stint than the 23 balls he faced on Wednesday. He began the day by winning the toss and opting to bat, but nothing thereafter went right for him and the hosts with the bat.
He was out thrice in that time, only that umpire Nitin Menon didn’t raise his right index finger on the first two occasions and the Australians didn’t review either.
The drama unfolded straightaway as Mitchell Starc beat Sharma’s outside edge off the first ball of the day. The Australians briefly contemplated going for a review for an outside edge, but ultimately didn’t. The replays showed a slight spike on the snickometer as the ball passed the India captain’s bat. Three balls later, Starc beat Sharma on the inside edge. Oohs and aahs followed from the Australian fielders, with the replays showing that the ball had brushed Sharma’s back leg. The ball would have gone on to hit the stumps had the Aussies reviewed for leg-before.
The two reprieves didn’t prove costly for Australia. In the sixth over of the innings, Kuhnemann was handed the ball and immediately had Sharma in all sorts of bother. Off the third ball of his first spell, the 26-year-old Queenslander found sharp turn and bounce to beat Sharma’s outside edge. The India opener went for a slog sweep next but was again beaten by the turn. Perhaps concluding that mere survival would be futile, he charged down the track off the final ball of the over, only to miss the ball by a mile and be stumped by gloveman Alex Carey.
In the next 32 balls, four more Indian wickets fell as the hosts slumped to 45/5 within the first hour of the game. Shubman Gill was caught at first slip, Shreyas Iyer bottom-edged one on to his stumps and Jadeja cut a short delivery to short cover. The biggest indicator of the surface not being up to scratch though was Lyon's dismissal of Cheteshwar Pujara. The ball landed perhaps a metre outside off-stump and then spun back viciously to knock his middle stump. To compound matters, the ball had also kept low.
Virat Kohli and KS Bharat added 25 runs off 62 deliveries for the sixth wicket, the sort of partnership that the hosts were hoping would spark a revival. But it wasn’t to be. They fell leg-before wicket in identical fashion to Murphy and Lyon respectively, taking a big stride forward alright but getting undone by the turn. It took a few lusty blows from Umesh Yadav to take India’s total past the 100-run mark.
“Sometimes you get a day where everything you nick goes to the fielder’s hands. We didn’t get beaten that many times. We just lost wickets basically. You do get a day like that sometimes,” India batting coach Vikram Rathour said at the end of the day’s play.
The Australian innings seemed headed in a similar direction when Jadeja trapped Travis Head plumb in front in the second over. In Jadeja’s next over, Marnus Labuschagne chopped one onto his stumps, only to find that the left-arm spinner had overstepped. Labuschagne had dollops of good fortune, surviving a leg-before call off R Ashwin when replays showed that the ball was going on to hit the stumps. India chose not to review, having wasted two of the three referrals earlier. Ashwin was again the bowler when Bharat didn’t react in time behind the wicket to a sharp outside edge off Labuschagne’s bat.
Whenever the Indian spinners hit a good length, they were missing the outside edge of the Australian batters by a fair distance. When they went fuller in the search for that edge, Khawaja and Labuschagne were able to get a decent stride forward and rotate the strike.
As the partnership between the two grew, so did the frustration among the Indian players. The breakthrough finally arrived in the 35th over when Jadeja got a good length delivery to scoot below Labuschagne’s bat and dislodge the stumps. However, Australia were just one run behind India’s first innings total by then.
Khawaja -- he had batted remarkably well for his half-century -- perished shortly after, miscuing a sweep against Jadeja to Gill at deep square leg. Steve Smith was also dismissed minutes before close of play, which leaves India hoping that they can limit Australia’s lead to as few runs as possible.
“We are still not out of this match. Australia have to bat in the fourth innings,” said Rathour. “Obviously, we will need to bat extremely well in the third innings.”
