By India Blooms News Service Feb 10, 2023
Nagpur: Skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front with a classy unbeaten ninth Test ton to help India post 226/5 at tea after a brief wobble from Australias Todd Murphy on Day 2 of the first Test of Border-Gavaskar series here on Friday.
Murphy sent back Virat Kohli who strangled down the legside on the very first ball of the post-lunch session.
Suryakumar Yadav started his Test career with his trademark sweep for a boundary, but did not last long as he was cleaned up by Nathan Lyon, with India trailing by 8 runs and half of the side back in the pavilion.
Rohit Sharma got to his first century as a captain with a chip over cover off Murphy, helping India take the lead.
Ravindra Jadeja lent good support to Rohit, who put away a few loose deliveries over the fence and had a close shave off Murphy as the TV umpire denied an LBW shout.
In the first session, India started the proceedings with overnight batsmen Rohit and Ravichandran Ashwin, who garnered useful runs early on.
Despite debutant offspinner Todd Murphy struck twice in the first session, Rohit reduced the deficit to 26 runs with a classy unbeaten 85 runs at lunch.
India were then 151/3 with Kohli batting on 12, giving company to Rohit at the other end. Both overnight batsmen frustrated the Aussies. They made useful runs, but were fortunate to have got a few boundaries off outside edges.
Soon the partnership reached 42 runs for the second wicket, thats when Murphy managed to strike Ashwin on the front pad.
The on field umpire judged it not out, but Australia opted for the DRS which yielded the TV umpires decision in their favour after the nightwatchman scored 23 runs.
Cheteshwar Pujara played an uncharacteristic knock of 7 runs. His aggressive approach brought about downfall as he ended up giving a simple catch to short fine leg while trying to sweep Murphy who bagged his third wicket.
Rohit had a foot-in-mouth moment when Murphy appealed for leg before and catch, but ended up losing the review on both counts.
As India slipped to 135/3, Kohli joined Rohit and saw to it that India does not lose any further wicket. The former captain looked in sublime touch as he hammered a couple of full-pitched balls to get India closer to Australias 177.
For Australia, Scott Boland and Murphy showed the way instead of usual suspects Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. The duo bowled in tandem and dried up runs for India, building pressure which resulted in Murphy breaking the overnight partnership.
There is still a lot to do for Australia as they would like to take a couple of wickets quickly in the post-lunch session.
Brief Scores: Australia 177 all out (Marnus Labuschagne 49; R Jadeja 5/47) trail India 226/5 (Rohit Sharma 118*; Todd Murphy 4-59) by 49 runs
(With UNI inputs)