Shaky Australia struggle in first exam on subcontinent

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

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), Peter Handscomb (31) and Alex Carey (36) – reached double figures in a disheartening start with the bat, albeit in demanding spin-friendly conditions.

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.

Having grown up on these pitches, India’s batters are better equipped than their rivals in the baggy green for the challenge.

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. He removed Smith not through prodigious turn but guile, angling a straight ball through the champion batter, who had been anticipating turn.

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.

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.

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