It was a tough day for Australia on Day 1 of the Nagpur Test. India bundled Australia out of just 177 in the first innings, who opted to bat first after winning the toss, with Ravindra Jadeja scripting a phenomenal comeback fron injury with a five-wicket haul. The deficit was eventually reduced to just 100 at the close of the opening day with India skipper Rohit Sharma in unshakable form, although Aussies did manage to pick one wicket with debutant Todd Murphy dismissing KL Rahul.
Besides a rather forgettable day for the tourists, there were a few moments when Australia did look to threaten. One of then being an 82-run stand between Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. During the start of the partnership, after Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj dismissed the two openers very early in the day, Labuschagne did have a friendly banter with former India captain Virat Kohli.
It happened during the seventh over of the innings when Labuschagne was beaten by the very first delivery from Jadeja. The Aussie batter responded with a smile before Kohli, who was stationed at the slip cordon, suggested him to shoulder his arms to such deliveries. Later, Labuschange played a cover drive to hit a boundary and Kohli was all praise while looking at the replay.
“Yeah, it’s always nice when Virat thinks you have played a decent shot there. There are a few shots I definitely learned from him,” Labuschagne was quoted as saying in an interview on Sen Cricket.
Labuschange was Australia’s top-scorer in the innings with his 133-ball 49 before being dismissed by Jadeja. The Aussies did find a late partnership of a half-century between Handscomb and Alex Carey, but the resistance was eventually broken by R Ashwin, who reached the milestone of 450 career wickets with the dismissal.
“We are here to win the series, so we are going to make sure that we work as hard as we possibly can and fight our way back into the match by putting up a special performance with the bat… Just what I thought he was going to do. His temperament as a person gave me a lot of confidence coming into this game. His skills are high, he’s got the changes and angles. He has got the craft. He looks like a special talent and it’s nice to see him do well,” Labuschagne said.
