Despite all the heated debate between the former cricketers and the media of both countries regarding the Nagpur pitch, the India vs Australia Border-Gavaskar Trophy began in the right spirit. Virat Kohli, generally the aggressor in the field, took the lead role in displaying great camaraderie with the Australian batters. Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma too shared light moments with Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne in the first session of the first Test match in Nagpur on Thursday.
It all started when Ravindra Jadeja spun one past Labuschagne in his very first over. The Australia batter turned towards Kohli, who, standing in the slip cordon, gestured that the ball should have been left alone.
The friendly exchanges continued with Smith and Labuschagne showing a thumbs up to Indian spinners Axar Patel and Jadeja on a couple of occasions for beating their bat.
The most delightful among all these was perhaps the little exchange between Virat Kohli and Steve Smith in the 14th over of the Australian innings. Smith came down the track to negate the turn from the left-arm spinner and was successful. Axar completed another maiden over. It was during the change of ends when Kohli, who was standing at the first slip, put his arms around Smith and had a light chat. The two legends of the game were all smiles.
Watch Video: Virat Kohli, Steve Smith's light exchange in India vs Australia 1st Test
Notably, this is not the first time Kohli and Smith shared a light moment on the field. The then-India captain famously stood up for the Australian batter during the 2019 ODI World Cup when the crowd were booing him in the India vs Austtralia group stage match.
{{/usCountry}}Notably, this is not the first time Kohli and Smith shared a light moment on the field. The then-India captain famously stood up for the Australian batter during the 2019 ODI World Cup when the crowd were booing him in the India vs Austtralia group stage match.
{{/usCountry}}Coming back to the India vs Australia first Test, the smiles from the Australian camp, however, vanished quickly in the post-Lunch session. Smith and Labuschagne had steadied the ship after David Warner and Usman Khawaja were dismissed early by Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. They took Australia to 76 for 2 at Lunch on Day. But things changed rapidly in the second session courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja.
Playing his first international match in five months, Jadeja removed Labuschagne (49), Matt Renshaw (0) and Smith (37) in quick succession to leave Australia reeling.
Peter Handscomb and Alex Carey then stitched together a counter-attacking half-century partnership which was broken by Ravichandran Ashwin. The veteran bowled Carey and then he got the wicket of Australia captain Pat Cummins.
Jadeja got debutant Todd Murphy as Australia were left in all sorts of trouble. They were 178 for 8 at Tea on Day 1.