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If a tour of India is the toughest assignment on the cricketing calendar, then Australia’s very first test of their mettle could hardly have gone worse.
Run through for 177 after Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat, with spin pair Ravindra Jadeja (5/47) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/42) once again cutting a swathe through the visitors, India and captain Rohit Sharma then made a mockery of the conditions to breeze to 1/77 in the close, just a hundred runs behind and with the most fearsome engine room going around still to bat.
Cummins began the day with first choice of the conditions, and ended it being savaged by former Australian great Matthew Hayden after a ‘rubbish’ spell with the new ball saw Rohit Sharma take him for 23 from his first three overs.
There were bright spots for the Australians: Marnus Labuschagne established himself as an all-format quality batter with a sprightly 49, while debutant Todd Murphy, whose family made a last-minute dash to Nagpur to be there for his baggy green presentation, claimed the sole wicket of India’s innings with a return catch to dismiss KL Rahul.
But in between, it was a grim tale of cartwheeling stumps, front pads being blown off and a chorus of celebrappeals from the Indian cordon.
Nowhere was this more perfectly exemplified than the fate of Matt Renshaw for a dreaded first-ball duck, his ambitious recall to the side ahead of summer hero Travis Head, seemingly due to his experience on the India tour of 2017, instantly looking ill-fated.
In being trapped LBW by Jadeja, he at least had an excuse to blame the infamous unkempt patch outside the left-hander’s off stump.
Perhaps as frustrating as the seven single-figure scores – including openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja, who alleviated concerns their left-handedness would make them cannon fodder to Jadeja by falling to the quicks in the opening 13 balls of the match – was that none of the four Australians who reached 30 could go on to an innings of note to define the opening day.
Labuschagne’s fine knock was ended one short of a deserved half-century when a Jadeja delivery fizzed past his outside edge to have him stumped by debuting wicketkeeper KS Bharat, ending an 82-run stand between he and Steve Smith that had seen the Aussies to safety after two early wickets.
Smith, too, copped a cracker, his assured 37 cut short by that man Jadeja again, but the manner of his dismissal, bowled through the gap between bat and pad, was another case of the Australians being bested by one that didn’t turn more than the ones that did.
Recalled for his first Test since early 2019, Peter Handscomb’s reputation as an excellent player of spin wasn’t exactly dented by his dogged 31 amid the collapse, but neither did he look assured enough to suggest his spot is locked in for the rest of the series. He fell attempting to sweep Jadeja, failing to make contact, and pinned straight in front.
Perhaps most disappointing of all was the fall of Alex Carey, whose 36 was 18 times what Australia’s three other left-handers managed combined. The left-hander use his subcontinental calling card – the reverse-sweep – to great effect in whacking seven boundaries in a 53-run partnership with Handscomb, until he died by the sword.
Eight wickets for 93 runs isn’t Australia’s most dire collapse, but their score of 177 is still their lowest first-innings total in a Test since a collapse for 85 against South Africa in Hobart in 2016 saw Renshaw and Handscomb given their first opportunities a few days later.
With only 24 overs to bat, Sharma sensed the day was his when an attempt to leave Cummins’ first ball of the innings instead pinged straight off the middle and through the cordon for four.
It was one of nine boundaries, plus a six, the captain would hit to secure Indian ascendancy by stumps, his opposite skipper taking the brunt of the assault.
Speaking on Fox Cricket, Hayden was scathing of Cummins, taking the captain to task almost as heavily as he did this time 12 months ago over his role in close friend Justin Langer’s axing as national coach.
“He’s bowled an absolute buffet today Pat Cummins,” Hayden said.
“A buffet of boundaries in his three overs. He’s been way too full, and it’s very uncharacteristic of Pat.
“The way that he started suggests to me that he’s straight away under a little bit of pressure. Naturally, you are here as a fast bowler on a spin friendly track, but he generally owns that kind of length and he backs it up with good line bowling as well.
“So the captain has to take the lead, especially when you’re away from home.”
Having leaked at nearly eight runs an over on a pitch built to neutralise his usual pace and menace, Cummins was forced to take himself from the attack after just 18 balls.
It could scarcely have been more symbolic.
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