India v Aus Cricket Blog: India See Off One Over Before Stumps
All the latest from Day 1 of the India-Australia Test.
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Decider in Dharamsala
A long home season, many victories and it all comes down to this one match of India’s Test team. The fourth and final Test against Australia in Dharamsala is also India’s last match in whites this season, with the Border Gavaskar trophy on the line.
Australia made a few injury-forced changes in Ranchi and today, it seems like it will be India’s turn. Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami have both been added to the squad last evening.
Virat Kohli Out
Big news from Dharamsala! India’s skipper has been ruled out of the decider due to the shoulder injury he picked in Ranchi. Ajinkya Rahane has been spotted walking to the toss and now becomes India’s 33rd Test captain. BCCI’s official Twitter handles has confirmed that Kuldeep Yadav will be making his Test debut today.
Speaking to the media on the eve of the match, Virat had said he would not play unless he was ‘100 percent match fit’
Australia Win Toss, Elect to Bat
India have two changes. Kuldeep is Virat’s replacement and Bhuvneshwar Kumar replaces Ishant Sharma in Dharamsala. India then going with the Virat’s preferred ‘five bowler’ strategy. Yadav is now the 288th cricketer to represent India in whites, also the first Chinaman bowler.
Steve Smith’s Aussie XI remains unchanged.
Aakash Chopra’s Quint Column
“The pitch in Dharamsala has donned a fairly brown look (a sign of being bereft of live grass and moisture) and that might be a temptation to add an extra spinner. While Jayant is ahead in the queue, I would like to see Kuldeep Yadav handed over a Test cap,” is what Aakash Chopra wrote in his preview piece for The Quint.
(Read: Aakash Chopra – India Maybe Tempted to Play an Extra Spinner)
Umesh Gets Renshaw in Second Over
Virat Kohli’s exclusion this morning wasn't the only hit the Indian team took. First ball of the innings and Karun Nair dropped Aussie opener David Warner.
The second over though, is when fortunes seemed to start changing for the home team. Umesh Yadav keeping up the pressure on Matt Renshaw with consistent short deliveries, and in the fourth strike- he got his man. Clean bowled.
Renshaw out on 1. In walks Steve Smith.
Aus Reach 50 In First Hour
There’s some quick scoring happening in the middle in Dharamsala. Steve Smith and David Warner have got the team past 50 in just 9.5 overs.
India persisting with pacers from both ends. Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
India’s 12th Man
His shoulder may be injured but there is no keeping Virat Kohli from getting into the thick of things in Dharamsala. A quick water break between overs and in walks India’s new 12th man Kohli.
There are a few discussions between him and skipper Ajinkya Rahane too.
Another Smith 50
Two centuries in the series so far and Steve Smith races to a fifty in Dharamsala.
21st Test half-century for the skipper. Comes off 67 deliveries.
Fun Fact: Every time Steve Smith has scored a fifty on this tour, he’s converted it into a 100.
Warner’s Series’ First Fifty
To say Steve Smith and David Warner are running away with this session, would be fair. Just 25 overs on the board and the two have already put together a 100-run partnership.
David Warner, dropped in the first over of the innings, has also reached a personal milestone. His first 50 of the series.
Lunch on Day 1
Steve Smith and David Warner remain unbeaten as the teams end the first session of the Dharamsala Test.
Australia: 131/1 in 31 overs (Warner: 54*, Smith 72*, U Yadav: 1/29)
Stat trivia: India have bowled only 3 maiden overs out of the 31 overs in the match so far.
Aussies’ Special Meeting in Dharamsala
On the eve of the match, Steve Smith and his Australian team paid a visit to His Holiness Dalai Lama at his McLeod Ganj monastery. Looks like the meeting is having its effect on the pair in the middle.
After the meeting, Smith had said he had asked the spiritual leader for some tips to help with his sleep: "Yeah, it was great. I asked him (His Holiness) a question about sleep and how he could help me and he gave me his blessings. We rubbed our noses together, and (he) gave me some blessings, so hopefully it'll help me with my sleep over the next five days," Smith said after the meeting.
Kuldeep Gets Breakthrough
David Warner becomes Kuldeep Yadav’s first Test wicket.
The Aussie vice-captain is walking on 56 after edging one to Ajinkya Rahane at first slip. A 130-run partnership broken by India’s debutant in Dharamsala.
Australia: 144/2 in 34.1 overs
Shaun Marsh Walks
Umesh Yadav with the wicket. The ball grazes past Shaun Marsh’s glove and even before the umpire could react, the Aussie walks.
Australia: 153/3, Marsh out on 4
Kuldeep’s Second Wicket
‘A beauty’ is probably the most apt way to describe Kuldeep Yadav’s second Test wicket. Peter Handscomb loses his stumps after the ball swerves after pitching, right between the bat and pad- straight onto the woodwork.
Australia: 168/4. Handscomb out on 8
Kuldeep Spins Out Maxwell
And just like that, Kuldeep Yadav has his third Test wicket. Glenn Maxwell gone for 8. The ball swerves past the batsman, he does a hesitant little dance and the ball swerves right through to the stumps.
Maxwell gone for 8. Australia: 178/5
Another Century for Steve Smith
Wickets falling at the other end by Steve Smith is marching on. Brings up his 20th Test century in 150 deliveries.
His 7th century in the last 8 Tests against India. His third of the series.
Steve Smith Out on 111
Ravichandran Ashwin has got his first wicket of the match but this is the big one!
Aussie skipper Steve Smith is walking on 111. The ball takes a sharp swerve off his bat and its a low catch for Ajinkya Rahane at first slip. He’s not letting this one out.
Australia: 208/6
Tea on Day 1
Australia go into the second break of Day 1 with 208 runs on the board for the loss of 6 wickets.
After losing just the one wicket in the first session and going to lunch at 131/1, the visitors managed 77 runs in the 30 overs since. Run rate was 2.57
Kuldeep Yadav leads the team back to the pavilion
Cummins Wade Collaborate
31 runs in 8 overs have been added by the 6th wicket partnership of Pat Cummins and Matthew Wade.
Ashwin and Jadeja the two bowlers to start this session.
Kuldeep Strikes Again
Ashwin and Jadeja could not make an in-road into the Wade-Cummins stand and Rahane turned to Kuldeep Yadav.
The third spinner in the Indian squad, Yadav took over from Jadeja and just his second over of this spell, the umpire found himself raising his finger. Out.
Caught and bowled Yadav. Pat Cummins gone on 21.
Australia: 245/7
Seven wickets in the day so far and spinners have picked up five. But that’s not what Dharamsala was expected to throw our way was it?
Hosting a Test match for the first time, the HPCA ground had a first-class record that completely favoured fast bowlers.
O’Keefe Run Out on 8
Another youngster. Another big wicket.
This time it is Shreyas Iyer who gets India the breakthrough. Brought on as a replacement fielder, Iyer collects the ball with lightening speed and races it off to Saha behind the stumps.
Steve O’Keefe is well short of his crease.
Australia: 270/8
Jadeja Gets Wade on 57
Ravindra Jadeja has his first wicket of the match. It may be deep in the innings but it is an important one.
Matthew Wade was the one Aussie batsman putting up a fight, the third-highest scorer after Smith and Warne but he’s now back in the hut. Clean bowled.
Australia: 300/9
Stumps on Day 1
Just the one over today for India, KL Rahul leaves all 6 deliveries and walks back to the hut with Murali Vijay.
India: 0/0 in one over
Australia 300 all out in 88.3 overs (Smith 111, Wade 57; Kuldeep 4/68)
What is a ‘chinaman’?
So much talk about Kuldeep Yadav and his special chinaman delivery, but where really does the word come from?
Here’s a video with the answer: Sunil Gavaskar Explains The Origins of The ‘Chinaman’ Delivery