AUSTRALIA and India are the top two sides in the rankings and the World Test Championship standings with India needing a 3-1 victory in the much-anticipated series to guarantee qualification for the showpiece final at The Oval this summer.

Australia, currently top of the standings, need to only draw one of the four Tests to guarantee their place. They are also looking to end India’s run of 15 successive series wins at home – a run going back to 2012.

Usman Khawaja and David Warner fell to seamers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami respectively in the first three overs, with both openers dismissed for one.

Labuschagne and Smith then steadied Australia for the rest of the morning session, seemingly moving their side into a decent position.

But Labuschagne was stumped off Jadeja for 49 four overs after lunch and the left-arm spinner then trapped Matt Renshaw lbw for a first-ball duck.

Jadeja, who had not played for India since August because of a knee injury, also bowled Smith through the gate for 37 while recording his 11th Test five-wicket haul.

Talk about the pitch
– India have been accused of only watering and rolling certain parts of the wicket to produce a turning surface to suit their spinners – dominated the build-up to the match but, while eight wickets fell to spin, the movement was rarely excessive.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took 3-42, including his 450th Test wicket. He reached the landmark in 88 matches, the second fastest behind Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who took his 450th wicket in his 80th Test.

Australia were poor in their 24 overs with the ball, allowing India to serenely progress to 76-0 before KL Rahul chipped a return catch back to debutant off-spinner Todd Murphy in the penultimate over.

AUSTRALIA 1st innings
David Warner b Mohammed Shami 1
Usman Khawaja lbw Mohammed Siraj 1
Marnus Labuschagne st Srikar Bharat b Ravindra Jadeja 49
Steven Smith b Ravindra Jadeja 37
Matthew Renshaw lbw Ravindra Jadeja 0
Peter Handscomb lbw Ravindra Jadeja 31
Alex Carey b Ravichandran Ashwin 36
Pat Cummins c Virat Kohli b Ravichandran Ashwin 6
Todd Murphy lbw Ravindra Jadeja 0
Nathan Lyon Not Out 0
Scott Boland b Ravichandran Ashwin 1
Extras 7b 5lb 3nb 0pen 0w 15
Total (63.5 overs) 177 all out
Fall of Wickets : 1-2 Khawaja, 2-2 Warner, 3-84 Labuschagne, 4-84 Renshaw, 5-109 Smith, 6-162 Carey, 7-172 Cummins, 8-173 Murphy, 9-176 Handscomb, 10-177 Boland

Bowling : Mohammed Shami 9 – 4 – 18 – 1, Mohammed Siraj 7 – 3 – 30 – 1,
Ravindra Jadeja 22 – 8 – 47 5 ( 3nb)
Axar Patel 10 – 3 – 28 – 0, Ravichandran Ashwin 15.5 – 2 – 42 – 3.
………………………………………
INDIA 1st innings
Rohit Sharma Not Out 56
Lokesh Rahul c&b Todd Murphy 20
Ravichandran Ashwin Not Out 0
Extras 0b 0lb 1nb 0pen 0w 1
Total (24.0 overs) 77-1
Fall of Wickets : 1-76 Rahul
To Bat : Pujara, Kohli, Yadav, Bharat, Jadeja, Patel, Shami, Siraj
Bowling : Pat Cummins 4 – 1 – 27 – 0, Scott Boland 3 – 1 – 4 – 0- 1.33
Nathan Lyon 10 – 3 – 33 – 0, Todd Murphy 7 – 0 – 13 – 1 1.86 1nb