Australia vs India, 1st Test: India strike late blows but David Warner ton puts Australia ahead

IANS
Mohammed Shami’s two wickets at the end of the day pulled things back for India

Adelaide, Dec 9 - India struck late blows on the opening day of the first Test of a four-match series at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday to restrict Australia to 354 for six at stumps.

Going into the final session of the day, Australia were in a strong position at 238 for two with opener David Warner unbeaten on 131*, but three quick late wickets, of Mitchell Marsh, Nathan Lyon and Brad Haddin, pegged them back with Mohammed Shami being the pick of the bowlers in the evening session, taking two wickets for 83 runs.

Earlier in the day, Australia, after losing Chris Rogers (9) and Shane Watson (14) cheaply, rode on the Warner-Clarke partnership of 118 runs for the third wicket before the captain retired hurt due to back spasm, which has been troubling him for the last couple of years.

However, Warner continued his aggression during the innings which saw him score his 10th Test century as the Indian bowlers failed to control him.

Shortly after the tea break, however, Warner lost his concentration as he holed out to deep midwicket off the bowling of debutant Karn Sharma for 145, thereby giving Karn his maiden Test wicket.

Warner’s wicket brought all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to the crease, and he carried on his good form from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as he timed the ball sweetly right from the word go. Marsh and Steve Smith put on an 87-run partnership for the fourth wicket, and just as they were looking on course to take Australia to safety towards the end of the day’s play, Aaron dismissed Marsh, courtesy of a steepling delivery which Marsh could only manage to edge to captain Virat Kohli at gully.

Shami, who was enduring a poor day till then, managed to turn around his fortunes as he got rid of night-watchman Nathan Lyon and Brad Haddin in quick succession for 3 and 0, respectively, thereby bringing India well and truly back into the game.

Going back to the start of the match, after Clarke won the toss and decided to bat first, the home team got off to a flying start thanks to Warner.

He tore the Indian bowling apart in the first four overs and helped the hosts reach 40 for no loss in no time.

This was despite the fact that Mohammed Shami had conceded just two runs in the first over to Rogers. Warner, however, milked three boundaries through cover, point and gully in the second over, bowled by Varun Aaron to make his intentions clear.

He thrashed Shami in the next over for three more boundaries and continued to collect fours regularly, forcing Kohli to replace an erratic Aaron with Ishant Sharma in the sixth over.

And Ishant responded to the challenge brilliantly, taking the wicket of Rogers. The batsman was dismissed while trying to cover drive a ball which moved away from him. He played it to the waiting hands of Shikhar Dhawan at second slip.

Watson (14) joined Warner in the middle with the team's score reading 50 for one but the all-rounder didn't last long as he guided an Aaron delivery to Dhawan while attempting a slice towards the points.

Despite two wickets tumbling in front of him, Warner remained his usual self and reached his fifty with a pull off Aaron in the 15th over.

Earlier, a rousing 63-second standing ovation marked the start of the match as a tribute to Phillip Hughes, who tragically died Nov 27 after being hit by a bouncer during a domestic match.

Both teams wore black armbands in memory of the 25-year-old Hughes, who was batting on an individual score of 63 when a Sean Abbot bouncer hit him at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) Nov 25.

The Adelaide Oval crowd stood in silence as legendary commentator Richie Benaud gave a stirring video tribute to Hughes on the big screen. The crowd then erupted into applause for 63 seconds.

Scorecard:

Australia

Chris Rogers c Dhawan b Ishant 9

David Warner c I Sharma b K Sharma 145

Shane Watson c Dhawan b Aaron 14

Michael Clarke retired hurt 60

Steven Smith batting 72

Mitchell Marsh c Kohli b Aaron 41

Nathan Lyon b Mohammed Shami 3

Brad Haddin c Saha b Mohammed Shami 0

Extras (lb 4, w 4, nb 2) 10

Total (for six wickets in 89.2 overs) 354

Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Rogers, 7.5 overs), 2-88 (Watson, 18.3), 2-206 (Clarke, retired not out, 43.2), 3-258 (Warner, 56.2), 4-345 (Marsh, 84.2), 5-352 (Lyon, 87.3), 6-354 (Haddin, 89.2)

Bowling:

Mohammed Shami 17.2-1-83-2

Varun Aaron 17-1-95-2

Ishant Sharma 20-4-56-1

Karn Sharma 23-1-89-1

Murali Vijay 12-3-27-0

Match Details:

Umpires: Marais Erasmus (South Africa) and Ian Gould (England)

Test debut: Karn Sharma (India)

TV umpire: Mick Martell (Australia)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)

Reserve umpire: Geoff Joshua (Australia)

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Edited by Staff Editor