India are squaring off against Australia in the first Test that kicked off on February 9, Thursday and the Australian batters were put to test after electing to bat first. To add more, the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami rattled the openers, David Warner and Usman Khawaja, putting the Baggy Greens team on the back foot right away.
However, the likes of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith brought the team back, until allrounder Ravindra Jadeja ripped the middle order with a two-wicket over eventually removing Labuschagne, with the batter contributing 49 runs to Australia’s scoreboard, with Matt Renshaw perishing for a golden duck.
Much to the delight of the Indian fans, Jadeja picked up the wicket of Smith with a straight ball that spun after hitting on a bite off the pitch. The Australian veteran was late with the shot and in no time, the ball pierced past the bat, dislodging the bails quickly. It was the turning point as the Baggy Greens lost their 6th wicket soon to Ravichandran Ashwin right after Smith’s departure, as they were reeling at 172/6.
Watch Ravindra Jadeja’s ripper to dismiss Steve Smith here:
Ravindra Jadeja with the massive wicket of Steve Smith…
Jaddu gets through the tough defence of Smudge!
Australia in all sorts of trouble!#INDvsAUS #SirJadeja #BGT2023pic.twitter.com/Vth7wGg9Zg— OneCricket (@OneCricketApp) February 9, 2023
There will be help for spinners: Rohit Sharma
After losing the toss and being forced to bowl first, Rohit Sharma, the skipper of the Indian team claimed that they wanted to bat first, although the right-handed batter was hopeful of reducing the Baggy Greens to a lesser total in the first innings. The talented batter said that the spinners could help later on in the game and the Jadeja-Ashwin duo enjoyed a great run after Lunch on Thursday.
“We would have batted too. Looks pretty dry. There will be help for spinners. We got to wait and see how much it does. Yesterday when we started training we did see some seam movement for the pacers up front. We have had a good prep for the last 5-6 days. We trained on the aspects in store. This is a big one. We know the importance of the series but we also understand it’s about winning one session at a time. It’s a long series,” Rohit was quoted as saying at the toss.
