Ravindra Jadeja returns with a bang as India seize control on day 1

When the commentary room really stays heated till the final ball is bowled, you know that you are in for the perfect contest of two juggernauts who are willing to put everything on the line in order to reach that Promised Land. It was a cracking day at Nagpur as two giants in India and Australia rocked and rolled to see the day finish off with India firmly placed in the driver’s seat.

Pat Cummins won the toss on day one and opted to bat first. With the new ball casting its own voodoo, Mohammed Siraj was quick to spot the drift and produced an absolute peach to catch Usman Khwaja off-guard. Mohammed Shami returned in the following over with another screamer to deal double trouble for the visitors as David Warner’s off-stump went for a stroll.

However, before India could run away with the session, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith applied the brakes and motored along perfectly, ticking around the cherry for those fragmented runs that kept the scoreboard mobile. After a fine first session that saw a couple of catching opportunities flying through and past Kohli at the slip cordon, Australia were happy with what they could rack up with Marnus leading the show.

The return from the break saw India roaring back to life, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja who managed to get the better of an advancing Marnus with the ball flipping away from the batter while KS Bharat did the honours. The returning southpaw followed it up with an absolute pearler to return Matt Renshaw for a golden duck.

Steve Smith did try and put his foot down and fought alongside Pete Handscomb but Jadeja was relentless on the first day of the fixture as he skidded through the defences of the former, establishing India in absolute control of the second session and also day one.

Despite half the Australian side crumbling down for a mediocre 109, Pete Handscomb and Alex Carey did manage to fight back as the duo put up 53 runs for the 6th wicket before Ashwin could return and rattle past the guards of Alex Carey to destabilize the Australian ship again. Once Carey was gone, it was a just matter of moments before India would mop up the tail and leave the visitors skittled out for a paltry 177. Jadeja was the pick of the lot with a well-earned fifer while Ashwin claimed three to make it an adept display of turn.

Australia’s woes compounded when India came out to bat, thanks to an emphatic showdown from the skipper Rohit Sharma who had a lucky boundary to get off the mark but was soon firing on all cylinders with the Australian fast bowling mafia scrambling for a fire blanket in the midst of raining boundaries at the VCA Stadium.

KL Rahul showed an immense display of patience to propel the opening stand to a decent number on the board, but debutant Todd Murphy was finally rewarded for his diligence as he managed to produce the mis-hit from the LSG skipper. India saw off the rest of the day comfortably as they tugged at the strings of dominion with Rohit Sharma leading the charge with an unbeaten 56 while the hosts could rack up 77 for the loss of 1, only 100 behind the visitors’ first innings tally at the end of day 1.