India trail by 100 runs as they reach 77/1 after bowling out Australia for 177 on Day 1

[Nikhil_cric]

Seems weirdly low for a hyped test match in India.

Is it a sign of how even Indians aren't caring much about tests now?

Perhaps I am just over analysing and it will pick up on Saturday.

No, you are right if you are comparing to crowds upto around 2005. This is in Nagpur and it's a weekday. You will still get crowds if it's a traditional Test venue during a weekend.

But the decline compared to previous years is noticeable.

 

[JattMaula]

KL doing KL thing.

 

[dravidthewall]

Why they selected Rahul instead of Gill.

 

[Devadwal]

Don’t judge the pitch until both sides have batted on it…..

Looks like a fair pitch. If you lose, you just weren’t good enough

 

[WengerOut]

India need 300 atleast. Unless batsmen following do not mess things up ( it is probable ), they should reach that at a canter.

 

[JattMaula]

India need 300 atleast. Unless batsmen following do not mess things up ( it is probable ), they should reach that at a canter.

Rohit needs to carry the bat. We should try to bat whole of tomorrow. 300 more runs.

 

[RamLakhan]

Bizarre innings from Rahul, criminal to not play Gill in his place! Rahul is finished, the sooner they realize this the better... And his replacement has already come (Gill - the proper all format batsman!)

 

[MenInG]

Rohit Sharma led with an unbeaten 56 after India bowled out Australia for 177 runs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday. Rohit and KL Rahul stitched 76 runs for the opening wicket before the latter fell for 20 runs on the bowling of Todd Murphy.

India were 77 for 1 at stumps on Day 1. Earlier, hosts India bowled out Australia for a below-par total, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja's five-wicket haul and Ravichandran Ashwin's three wickets.

Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj had reduced Australia to 2 for 2 in 2.1 overs to provide India a terrific start before the duo of Jadeja and Ashwin ran through the spine of Australian batting line-up. Marnus Labuschagne was the highest scorer for Australia with the score of 49.

NDTV

 

[RamLakhan]

Ashwin is not a night watchman here, he is probably more confident than any other batsmen... He may start well tomorrow...

 

[docteurmanish]

Gill comes in next game in rahul place . Ayer too will be back in place of sky . It’s the most formidable batting attack india has assembled since sehwag - tendulkar - dravid - ganguly - laxman - dhoni
Gill - Rohit - pujara - Kohli - Ayer - pant betters them . I haven’t seen a more formidable indian team than this . People who were saying india will loose 2-1 or 2-0 have no clue . A player of class of Mayank Agarwal is back to ranji and sky might get only one chance here . Sarfaraaz khan may never wear an india cap inspite of being an amazing talent .

 

[jnaveen1980]

Rohit is adopting the right approach. If you try to defend your way out you are not going to last too long.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Gill comes in next game in rahul place . Ayer too will be back in place of sky . It’s the most formidable batting attack india has assembled since sehwag - tendulkar - dravid - ganguly - laxman - dhoni
Gill - Rohit - pujara - Kohli - Ayer - pant betters them . I haven’t seen a more formidable indian team than this . People who were saying india will loose 2-1 or 2-0 have no clue . A player of class of Mayank Agarwal is back to ranji and sky might get only one chance here . Sarfaraaz khan may never wear an india cap inspite of being an amazing talent .

Kohli is past it. Pujara also on his last legs. Sarfraz should be playing

 

[MenInG]

India have taken control of the Nagpur Test after a gripping first day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, thanks in large part to ace spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Jadeja celebrated his return to Test cricket after a five-month layoff with a 5/47 against Australia, which helped India bowl out the tourists for 177.

In response, India stood at 77/1 at the end of day one.

Australia are the 34-year-old left-arm spinner's favourite opponent in Tests. The all-rounder has 68 wickets against them, his most against a single opponent, at an average of 18.16. This was Jadeja's 11th five-for in Test cricket, and his fourth five-wicket haul against the tourists.

Amongst his victims was Australia batting star, Steve Smith, who was bowled off a ripsnorter that beat the batter’s defences. Jadeja has now accounted for Smith on five occasions, and in Nagpur he was one of four top-six batters that Jadeja removed in an outstanding individual display.

Before the Test, Jadeja had told BCCI.tv about how excited he was to make a comeback.

“I am very excited and feel good about wearing the Indian jersey after five months. I feel blessed to have been given a second chance. It gets very frustrating if you are out of the game for more than five months, and the journey was full of ups and downs," Jadeja added. “The Physio and trainer at the NCA worked quite a bit on my knee, and gave a lot of their time to me.”

Ashwin got into the act after Smith’s wicket, removing the aggressive Alex Carey, beating his reverse sweep to bowl him around the legs.

This was Ashwin’s 450th Test wicket in Tests. He is the ninth bowler and third off-spinner to achieve this landmark. The off-spinner finished with 3/42 in the first innings.

Earlier in the morning, India made early inroads at the VCA Stadium, claiming the wickets of David Warner and Usman Khawaja in the first 13 deliveries, and threatened to pin Australia down at 2/2.

The key partnership of Marnus Labuschagne and Smith dug in for the tourists in response, surviving up to the lunch break at 76/2. But the stand was broken during a skilled passage of play from the left-arm orthodox Jadeja.

For all the talk of the Nagpur surface, it appeared to be normal transmission out in the middle, with the biggest surprises of the day perhaps coming at the toss.

Many would have expected Travis Head to feature in a counter-attacking response in the second session, but Pat Cummins' team sheet had the left-hander out of the side, with Peter Handscomb named at number six, a spot below Renshaw.

For India, KL Rahul beat Shubman Gill to the opener's spot in a nod to experience, with white-ball specialist Suryakumar Yadav included for his Test debut, as predicted by former coach Ravi Shastri on the most recent episode of The ICC Review.

India's openers gave their team a solid start, adding 76 for the first wicket.

Rohit Sharma took the aggressor's role, hitting nine fours and a six, in his 56*, particularly targeting senior bowlers Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins.

Debutant Todd Murphy was successful in prying out Rahul right before the day's end, but India will resume just 100 runs behind on day two.

ICC

 

[sam_ahm]

I must say there were no demons in the pitch. Credit to Indian bowlers and Aussie batters just didn't apply themselves well enough. They have been left embarassed. No way they can blame the pitch for this poor performance.

 

[jnaveen1980]

I must say there were no demons in the pitch. Credit to Indian bowlers and Aussie batters just didn't apply themselves well enough. They have been left embarassed. No way they can blame the pitch for this poor performance.

4 out of 5 dismissals of Jadeja were rather straight balls. He varied his pace brilliantly. He bowled 2 or 3 at 94 kph. Then suddenly one at 84 kph which turned. Again 93/94. He mixed up well enough to draw them into false sense of security. Axar was just darting. Ashwin was just flighting. Jadeja combined them both.

 

[Saj]

India dominated the tourists.

They outplayed and out-thought Australia from the start.

Perfect way to start a series.

 

[Amjid Javed]

India dominating as expected vs Aussies. Aussies showed fragility vs SL in SL vs spin, so it's going to just be exposed even more in India.

 

[sam_ahm]

4 out of 5 dismissals of Jadeja were rather straight balls. He varied his pace brilliantly. He bowled 2 or 3 at 94 kph. Then suddenly one at 84 kph which turned. Again 93/94. He mixed up well enough to draw them into false sense of security. Axar was just darting. Ashwin was just flighting. Jadeja combined them both.

I agree, there have been talks about how good this indian bowling attack is but even then I think this attack is underrated. Easily one of the best bowling attacks in history. Give them any sort of pitch, they don't cry, they just go out there and deliver.

 

[docteurmanish]

Kohli is past it. Pujara also on his last legs. Sarfraz should be playing

Yes , should be . Likely is last year for pujara and date I say even Kohli .

But still this batting line up today is better than that peak lineup if gill is in it . For all we critisize pujara , he does produce match saving innings still . He did decent in Bangla .

With sky , ayer , gill a solid middle order beginning to surface . Sarfaraaz and a few more players will be in shortly . I am optimistic now about india for first time in years . At least they brought gill and sky in and dumped rahane . Pujara and Kohli are also not safe if they don’t perform . Rahul is likely gonna be benched and on his way out .

 

[MP2011]

Great 1st day in an eagerly awaited series.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Yes , should be . Likely is last year for pujara and date I say even Kohli .

But still this batting line up today is better than that peak lineup if gill is in it . For all we critisize pujara , he does produce match saving innings still . He did decent in Bangla .

With sky , ayer , gill a solid middle order beginning to surface . Sarfaraaz and a few more players will be in shortly . I am optimistic now about india for first time in years . At least they brought gill and sky in and dumped rahane . Pujara and Kohli are also not safe if they don’t perform . Rahul is likely gonna be benched and on his way out .

Kohli isn't going anywhere lol. The inning he played against Pakistan in the WC has extended his career by 2-3 years at least. He is also thinking about playing in the next T20 WC.

 

[RajBan]

Gill should actually come at 1 down replacing Pujara. Easwaran should replace Rahul in the opening slot.

 

[Clueless]

Kohli will play till 2030

 

[sweep_shot]

India are looking good to go up 1-0.

I didn't expect Aussies to get bundled out like this.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Indian pitches can be tricky. Any team can collapse in a single session. Don't go by first day's play of India. India can collapse too. They have done it many times.

 

[docteurmanish]

Kohli isn't going anywhere lol. The inning he played against Pakistan in the WC has extended his career by 2-3 years at least. He is also thinking about playing in the next T20 WC.

Kohli is in poor form in tests . This series is imp for him

Let’s see . His catching is horrendous now

 

[MenInG]

Nagpur: Ravindra Jadeja used the crease intelligently to create a variety of angles which confused the Australian batters, and clearly showed his exploits on Thursday were not the result of so-called "rank turner" as is being bandied around by some.
Jadeja took 5 for 47 on his international comeback with the prized scalps of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as Australia managed only 177 in their first innings on the opening day of the Border-Gavaskar series.
"This wasn't a rank turner. Compared to other pitches, it was slow and had low bounce. I felt defending wasn't very difficult today but as the game progresses, it (defending) will become increasingly difficult. But that's the nature of Test cricket," Jadeja said at the end of day's play.
He then explained how he played mind games with the batters and got the better of them.
"I used the crease as not every delivery was turning. And, as I said, the bounce was low, so trying (I tried) to create doubts in the minds of the batters," he explained.
"I was going wide off the crease and coming close to the stumps and some deliveries if they stepped out and it turned, there would always be a chance. Luckily, he (Marnus Labuschagne) stepped out (and) that one (delivery) turned after pitching. And for (Steve) Smith, the ball went straight from that same spot from where I delivered the earlier (Marnus) delivery," said the man, who is now three shy of 250 Test wickets.
The idea was to keep the Aussies guessing about which delivery would turn and which one would come straight with the angle, and it worked to perfection for the wily spinner.
"Yes, there was natural variation from the wicket, but I tried to mix up the angles, so that there was doubt in the batter's mind," he said.
Jadeja also said the aim was to bowl stump to stump on a low-bounce track. The spinner added that he was happy with his rhythm, having played a quality Ranji Trophy match for Saurashtra against Tamil Nadu last month.
Jadeja had taken seven second-innings wickets in the first-class match on return from a five-month injury layoff.
"I loved the rhythm with which I bowled (today) and the ball came out of my hand quite well, line and length was also accurate, since there is no bounce off the track.
"I preferred bowling stump to stump. On a low-bounce track, there are more chances of leg before and bowled, and luckily, I got a few leg-before and bowled, so that makes me happy," he said.
"I wouldn't say this is exactly like the Chennai track (where the Ranji Trophy game was played) but quite similar to it in terms of low bounce. So, the thought process was to bowl stump to stump." It wasn't easy to rotate the strike ==================== Jadeja added that when Smith and Labuschagne added 84 runs for the third wicket, breaking the partnership was uppermost on his mind.
"They were searching for runs and it wasn't easy to rotate the strike and get runs off each ball. (So they) also started trying different things.
"And once they had a partnership, I thought, I should bowl as many dot balls as possible consistently. (The) pitch wasn't offering turn, so (I) had to bowl (in) good areas and maintain good line and length to break the stand," he added.
Only wanted to come back when 100 per cent fit ============================= Jadeja was provisionally picked for the Test series against Bangladesh in December last year but he said that he only wanted to return once he was fully fit and had the confidence back.
"It was (a) difficult (phase) as I have missed a lot of cricket in the last five months, missed important tournaments (Asia Cup and World T20). Rehabs are tough for players and even tougher is to keep the level of performance post rehab.
"You need that confidence and there are always doubts that (whether) post injury your performance will remain the same or not.
"My motivation was to get fit as quickly as possible as I had already spent five months away from cricket and I wanted to be 100 per cent fit, so it took me some more time. The doubt that I wanted to clear is whether or not I am able to give that 100 per cent in match situation," he said.

 

[shamaan]

Why they selected Rahul instead of Gill.

Whilst I am not saying he is dropped but I did say he won't be given as longer run compared to a different youngster who I am thinking off.

 

[Buffet]

India can get bowled out cheaply as well. Aus was 2 down with some runs as well.

 

[jnaveen1980]

India can get bowled out cheaply as well. Aus was 2 down with some runs as well.

Exactly. Kohli is at his worst form against spinner .So is Pujara. SKy is a complete gamble. He could get out first ball or make a quick fire 50. There is no evidence of him piling up big runs at first class level. India's success at home has been on the back of not just bowling of Ashwin and Jadeja also their batting. This is why India was able to carry 3 passengers for so long (Kohli/Pujara/Rahane). They covered for these guys. Above all there is no Pant. Australian tormentor. Bharat the debutant another unkonwn quantity at this level. He has 300 in first class. But that is first class