Nagpur: Australia’s vulnerabilities to spin on the subcontinent have already been exposed on India’s made-to-order pitch as the visitors’ quest for greatness began in alarming fashion on Thursday.
The metaphorical Mount Everest Pat Cummins’ men must scale just got that bit higher after their batting crumbled against the skill and wiles of a familiar foe, Ravindra Jadeja, who unravelled Australia with a five-wicket haul.
Steve Smith is knocked over by India’s Ravindra Jadeja for 37.Credit:Getty Images
The Australians are looking to turn the screws on India on the second day, confident that they too will lose wickets in a hurry in the demanding spin-friendly conditions.
“With our innings as well there were those little partnerships. Once a wicket fell it was tough to start again. It gives us a lot of confidence tomorrow that if we can get on a roll we can take a clump of wickets and get the game going in fast forward,” Peter Handscomb said.
“There’ll be times when they put a partnership again and it’s going to be tough cricket, a grind, and we can control that scoreboard and our game. And then we can create something and we can try and attack and get that clump of wickets.
Privately, some players have felt a score of 30 or more would be good going on a pitch many accurately predicted would turn. Only four players – Marnus Labuschagne (49), Steve Smith (37), Handscomb (31) and Alex Carey (36) – reached double figures in a disheartening start with the bat.
After reaching 2-76 at lunch, Australia lost six wickets in a disastrous second session before being dismissed for 177, their lowest first-innings total since the 2018 Boxing Day Test when they were missing Smith and David Warner.
Though it is below par, gremlins have already emerged from the loose and dusty red soil of the VCA Stadium.
Australia, though, could not capitalise on the conditions in the final session, failing to consistently threaten the hosts, who powered to 1-77 at stumps led by a brisk half-century by skipper Rohit Sharma. Rohit took the points hands down in the battle of the captains, hitting an unusually scrambled Cummins for 24 in his first 11 balls.
India’s Ravindra Jadeja (right) celebrates the wicket of Peter Handscomb during the first day of the first Test in Nagpur.Credit:AP
Debutant Todd Murphy struck a late blow, capturing his maiden Test wicket when he claimed a return catch off KL Rahul in the penultimate over of the day.
As prominent as the controversial footmarks outside the left-hander’s off stump are, their impact on the game thus far has been disproportionate to the considerable interest they generated before the match. None of the five Australian lefties could blame their dismissal on them.
Paradoxically, this should provide encouragement for a touring side who have been given a sobering reminder of just how daunting their mission is to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Todd Murphy celebrates taking the wicket of KL Rahul.Credit:Getty Images
As Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel showed, there is more than enough on this pitch for Nathan Lyon and Murphy to have a say on this game.
Openers Warner and Usman Khawaja could be considered bonus wickets for India, departing in the first two overs of the game to fast men Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
The key play of the day came in the fourth over after lunch when Jadeja enticed Labuschagne down the track to the wrong delivery, stumped after being beaten by one which fizzed past his outside edge.
Labuschagne and Smith had put on 82 for the third wicket, making batting look easy on the testing surface. That the Queenslander departed out of the blue showed you can never be truly in when the ball is turning so much.
Next ball, Matthew Renshaw was out for golden duck playing for a straight delivery which turned into his pad. It is only the sixth time numbers one, two and five have made a combined total of two or less for Australia.
Rohit Sharma on the way to a half-century.Credit:AP
Jadeja was a menace, and will continue to be on this track, which he said was not a rank turner. He removed Smith not through prodigious turn but guile, angling a straight ball through the champion batter, who had been anticipating turn.
“I used the crease as not every delivery was turning and as I said the bounce was low, so trying to create doubts in minds of the batters,” Jadeja said in an interview translated from Hindi.
“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) stepped out that one turned after pitching. And for Smith, the ball went straight from that same wide of the crease.
“Yes, there was natural variation from the wicket but I tried to mix up the angles, so that there is doubt in batter’s minds.”
Australia’s other partnership of substance was between Handscomb and Carey, the latter dominating a 53-run stand with his cavalier strokeplay.
Though the reverse-sweep brought his demise, it also reaped a third of his 36 – which should be enough for him to persist with the unorthodox method.
Running out of partners, Handscomb was dismissed chasing quick runs in his first appearance in the baggy green in more than four years.
“It’s tough out there Jadeja was obviously bowling very well, not really giving our batsmen a lot to hit and I found him tough to score (against),” Handscomb said.
“My plan was just to bat for as long as possible, then eventually get some runs. Hope you nick a couple or push a couple through the odd gap here and there. I just wanted to try and be there as long as possible.
“It definitely wasn’t easy out there. The Indian team bowl really well as a unit and didn’t give us much to score off.
“It’s tough because when the pitch is playing tricks that starts to play with your mind a little bit as well. The ball that doesn’t do as much you expect to do a little bit more and that’s where you can come undone with the ball that goes straight on, rather than the big turners we saw out there as well.”
Jadeja’s 5-47 is his fourth bag of five or more against Australia, and his third in his past four matches against this country on home soil.
It also highlights the lack of a left-armer in Cummins’ attack who can threaten both edges of the bat.
