Feb, Month

Nagpur, Feb 9 Ravindra Jadeja set himself up for a five-wicket haul on his return to Test cricket after successful surgery and Ravichandran Ashwin claimed his 450th wicket as India reduced Australia to 174/8 at tea on the opening day of the first Test here on Thursday.Electing to bat, Australia's struggles on a pitch offering spin on which the ball stays low at times were interspersed by two half-century partnerships an 82-run stand between Marnus Labuschagne (49) and Steve Smith (37) for the third wicket and a 53-run stand for the sixth wicket between Peter Handscomb (29 batting) and Alex Carey (36). Though the pitch was difficult to bat on, Labuschagne and Smith showed that one can score runs on it as they carried Australia to 76/2 at lunch.Jadeja made the breakthrough for India in the fourth over after lunch, with Australia 76/2, as he broke the 82-run partnership for the third wicket between Marnu Labuschagne and Steve Smith. He enticed Labuschagne out of his crease and the ball spun away from the good length spot to avoid the bat. Bharat did a superb job to stump the Aussie batter smartly, getting out one run short of his half-century.A delivery later, Australia were down to 84/4 when Matt Renshaw was caught plumb by Hadeja with a delivery that turned big and went past the edge to hit the front pad. Australia crossed the 100-run mark off 40.3 overs.And when Jadeja claimed Steve Smith as his third victim of the afternoon session, Australia had half of their side inside the pavilion with 109 runs on the board. Jadeja got Smith out with a beautiful delivery that spun a little and straightened to rattle the off-stump as the Aussie batter played for a big turn and missed it completely.Peter Handscomb and Alex Carey denied India the next success as they raised a 53-run partnership for the sixth wicket, upping the pace of scoring as they attacked the bowlers.Their partnership was in total contrast to the one by Smith and Labuschagne as it came in 63 balls while the one for the third wicket came off 128 balls.Carey was the more aggressive of the two as he struck seven boundaries in Ashwin for his 450th victim in Test cricket as the Aussie keeper bottom-edged into the stumps. This was another delivery that stayed low and Australia were down to 162/6 in the 54th over.Australia lost two quick wickets in the form of Pat Cummins (6), caught by Virat Kohli off Ashwin, and Todd Murphy (0), trapped lbw by Jadeja for his fourth wicket as they stumbled to 174/8 in 60 overs at tea.Earlier, after Mohammad Shami sent down an uneventful first over, Siraj stuck off the first ball he delivered from the North End, trapping Usman Khawaja leg before wicket with one that stayed low and nearly took his toe off.It was an outswinger pitched on a length and that moved in for the left-hander and rapped him plumb in front. Khawaja went for one run having faced 3 deliveries. Australia 2/1 in the second over.Shami struck in the next over as he sent David Warner's off-stump cartwheeling with an inswinger that narrowly missed the edge and ricocheted off the pad into the off-stump. Warner too made 1 run but off five deliveries.Smith and Labuschagne buckled down for a partnership and took Australia past the 50-run mark. They were severely tested by the Indian bowlers especially the spinners on a pitch of variable bounce as some deliveries were skidding and jumping while others were keeping low. Both the pacers bowled superbly as they provided the breakthrough, though the spinners could not get a wicket in the morning session despite all three being pressed into action.Axar Patel could have got the third wicket but Virat Kohli dropped a sharp chance to his right off Smith when the batsman was on six runs.The duo survived more than a few unplayable deliveries with the ball but raised the half-century of their partnership in 128 balls. Labuschagne struck Siraj for two fours in the fourth over, one off a half-volley and another, a deliberate edge past the keeper along the ground. Siraj beat him all ends up off the last ball of the over, with an outswinger from wide off the crease.He struck five more boundaries in the first session, the pick of them being a drive off Shami wide off mid-on. He was nearly out when a delivery from Axar Patel skid off the patch near the good length spot and Labuschagne just managed to keep it out. Australia went for lunch at 76/2 in 32 overs with Labuschagne batting on 47 and Smith on 19.With all the talk centred on the 'doctored' pitch which has a big dry patch to negate the left-handed batters in the Australian side, the hosts went into the match with three spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.The hosts handed maiden Test caps to Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper KS Bharat bringing them for Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill. Australia handed a debut to spinner Todd Murphy while pacer Scott Boland came in for the injured Josh Hazlewood.Brief scores:(At Tea, Day 1) Australia 174/8 in 60 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 49, Steve Smith 37, Alex Carey 36, Peter Handscomb batting 29; Ravindra Jadeja 4-45, Ashwin 2-41) v India.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

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