New Delhi: Spinners shared six wickets between them and pacer Mohammad Shami picked four while Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb’s resilient half-centuries enabled Australia to finish their first innings with a decent total on Day 1 of the second Test of Border-Gavaskar series at Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Friday.
After Australia folded for 263, India were 21/0 at stumps, trailing the visitors by 242 runs with all 10 wickets in their hand. Openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul were batting on 13 and 4, respectively.
Australia batted with a lot of positive intent, scoring runs at a good pace on a pitch which did not have any devil in it, though the spin and bounce surprised the willowers, as the odd ball stayed low, and the new-ball did a few tricks.
But as the ball became older and softer, batting became a lot more easy, and theAussie batsmen smashed some delightful boundaries. Khawaja (81) and Handscomb (72*) were involved in a few useful partnerships.
Khawaja got off to a brisk start by hammering three boundaries, but his opening partner David Warner (15 off 44) found it difficult sorting out Mohammad Siraj’s snorters hurled at him. The Hyderabadi seamer had Warner hop and jump off the crease in his six-over burst.
Surviving the initial torrid time, the duo added 50 runs for the first wicket before Shami came round-the-wicket and forced Warner to edge one to Srikar Bharat behind the stumps.
Marnus Labuschagne (18) and Khawaja launched a counter-punch as the latter reverse swept and lofted Ravichandran Ashwin for a six over long-off.
Labuschagne was just as busy in his approach, clobbering Shami for a pair of boundaries and then aping Khawaja to smash a boundary through mid-wicket by stepping out off Ashwin. But the Chennai star had the last laugh when he trapped Labuschagne (18) LBW just before lunch. The umpire denied the decision, but India overturned it by employing DRS.
Two balls later, Ashwin got Steve Smith (0) to give an outside edge for Bharat to complete a sharp and low catch. Ravindra Jadeja almost had Khawaja too before lunch, but the shrewd review helped him survive a loud LBW appeal.
The visitors scored 94/3 in the first session and added 105 runs in the second, with Khawaja leading from the front. Shami removed Travis Head (12) soon after lunch, but Khawaja and Handscomb thwarted India deom making any further inroads.
Handscomb, in particular, looked confident against the softened ball and did not hesitated to play on the backfoot and nudge for ones and twos to keep the runs ticking.
An exquisite catch by KL Rahul brought Indian success. He leapt sideways to catch Khawaja’s reverse-sweep off Jadeja at cover-point. India seized the opportunity, and Ashwin edged out the dangerous Alex Carey in slips.
Australia looked to fold below 200 runs mark, but Handscomb in th company of lower-order Pat Cummins stitched the third half-century stand of their first innings.
Cummins smashed a pair of slog-sweep sixes off Ashwin before he was trapped LBW by Jadeja for 33. The left-arm spinner then castled Todd Murphy through the gate.
Handscomb though raised the tempo ever so slightly and pushed Australia’s total beyond 250 runs before Shami skittled the last two wickets.
The right-handed Handscomb, who last scored a Test match half-century in 2017, remained not out before the DRS negated a caught decision after Jadeja overstepped.
India faced a knotty nine-over period before the stumps were drawn, but Rohit and Rahul stayed put despite a couple of nervy moments against debutant left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann.
Brief scores: Australia 263 (Usman Khawaja 81, Peter Handscomb 72*; Mohammed Shami 4-60, R. Ashwin 3-57) lead India 21/0 (Rohit Sharma 13*) by 242 runs.
UNI
