On a pitch that played better than any other so far in the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia won a crucial toss and put on a solid batting show. Usman Khawaja, with his 14th Test ton, put on pivotal partnerships with Steve Smith first and Cameron Green later to help the visitors get their noses ahead.

Led by the steadfast Khawaja, Australia showed that they were ready to grind India out in the first session after the hosts had started in wayward fashion. After having been forced to warm up out of the main playing area because of the political attendance at play ahead of the day’s play, India’s pacers began by spraying the ball all over the place.

Mohammed Shami began with a big wide that landed in front of second slip, and proceeded to test KS Bharat behind the stumps with some movement and inconsistent lines. When an edge finally came with Travis Head on 7, Bharat spilled a straightforward chance leaving Umesh Yadav frustrated.

Head and Usman Khawaja laid into India’s waywardness and proceeded to bring up the highest opening partnership for Australia in the series, and dominated the first hour’s play. With little turn on offer, R Ashwin bowled tight lines and mixed his pace up in a bid to keep the batters guessing.

With the runs drying up a tad, Head tried to take on Ashwin but ended up holing out to mid on, giving India a vital breakthrough. Their toil in putting a lid on the run-rate added for more when Shami was brought in for a second spell and struck with his second ball, having Marnus Labuschagne chopping on.

Ashwin and Shami bowled six maiden overs between them to keep the run-flow to a minimum in the second hour as India pulled things back a touch. And the pattern continued in the second session as well. India gave little away with the ball on a slow surface that had little on offer by way of movement. But whenever there was an opportunity with the spinners going short, Khawaja in particular was up for it, whipping away boundaries at regular intervals. Smith had lesser of those gifts come his way but he remained adroitly disciplined in his methods, preferring to grind India out on a hot afternoon.

Rohit Sharma mixed his bowling options around, even bringing on Shreyas Iyer for an over, but to no avail as the partnership was unscathed through the second session.

The third, however, saw some changes in fortune early. Smith was caught on the backfoot looking to defend Jadeja and ended up chopping on and brought an end to a 238-ball partnership worth 79. India built on that momentum as Shami struck for the second time in the first over of a new spell, sending Peter Handscomb’s offstump cartwheeling.

At 170/4, Australia were in danger of letting their good work slip away. But the introduction of the second new ball, and the presence of an adventurous Cameron Green put paid to that proposition. Against a lacklustre Umesh Yadav, Green cracked a couple of boundaries to display his intent. While being troubled by Shami’s short balls, he managed to hang in and consistently hit back when an opportunity came his way.

As the day wore to an end, he got close to a fifty but it was the man who batted like a monk all day, Khawaja, who got to his milestone off the final over of the day, and ensured that Australia ended the day firmly on top. (Cricbuzz)

AUSTRALIA 1st innings
Travis Head c Ravindra Jadeja b Ravichandran Ashwin 32
Usman Khawaja Not Out 104
Marnus Labuschagne b Mohammed Shami 3
Steven Smith b Ravindra Jadeja 38
Peter Handscomb b Mohammed Shami 17
Cameron Green Not Out 49
Extras 9b 1lb 1nb 0pen 1w 12
Total (90.0 overs) 255-4
Fall of Wickets : 1-61 Head, 2-72 Labuschagne, 3-151 Smith, 4-170 Handscomb
To Bat : Carey, Starc, Lyon, Murphy, Kuhnemann
Bowling : Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Mohammed Shami 17 – 2 – 65 – 2 (1w 1nb), Umesh Yadav 15 – 2 – 58 – 0,
Ravichandran Ashwin 25 – 8 – 57 – 1, Ravindra Jadeja 20 – 2 – 49 – 1,
Axar Patel 12 – 4 – 14 – 0, Shreyas Iyer 1 – 0 – 2 – 0.