India thrashed Australia in the first Test to take a 1-0 series lead. Batting second, the hosts scored 400 runs, led by skipper Rohit Sharma (120). Todd Murphy, Australia’s debutant off-spinner, took seven wickets. The Indian spinners subsequently wore through the Australian batting order to win by innings and 132 runs.
Nagpur Test: Match summary
Australia chose to bat and finished on 177/10. Marnus Labuschagne (49) performed admirably, while Steve Smith, Alex Carey, and Peter Handscomb each got good starts but could not convert them into a big ones. Ravindra Jadeja took a fantastic fifer (5/47) for India. The hosts then smashed 400 to take a 223-run lead. Rohit Sharma led the team in scoring, while Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja contributed significantly.
Ashwin-Jadeja then demolished Australia to secure a comfortable victory.
Rohit scored his tenth Test century
Rohit, who last struck a Test century in 2021, ended the lengthy wait in Nagpur with a ton. He scored his tenth Test century, hitting a four off an inside-out try to reach the milestone. Before Pat Cummins cleaned his stumps, he hit a 212-ball 120 (4s: 15, 6s: 2). Rohit has now completed 3,257 Test runs at 47.20 seconds.
Rohit became the fourth captain to smash a century in all formats
Rohit became the fourth captain to smash a century in all forms. In the exclusive list, he joins Pakistan’s Babar Azam, Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan, and South Africa’s Faf du Plessis. Notably, as captain, Rohit has three ODI tons and two T20I centuries.
Jadeja made a strong comeback
Jadeja, who last played a Test match in July 2022, made a strong comeback. In the first innings, the all-rounder took a fifer (5/47). It was his 11th fifer in Tests, and it was followed by a willow crunch of 70(185). His half-century was his 18th in Test cricket. He has already completed 2,593 Test runs at 37.04. Meanwhile, he has amassed 249 wickets at a strike rate of 24.34.
Axar and Shami frustrate the visitors
Axar Patel hit 84 balls in 174 pitches, a career-high (4s: 10, 6s: 1). The southpaw recorded his second Test half-century. He also shared an 88-run eighth-wicket stand with Jadeja. He now has 333 runs at an average of 27.75. Mohammed Shami, meanwhile, struck a crucial 47-ball 37. (4s: 2, 6s: 3). He and Axar added 52 runs as India stretched their lead.
A dream Test debut for Murphy
Murphy, the right-arm off-spinner finished with statistics of 7/124. On his Test debut, he hit his first fifer. Notably, in his debut innings, he dismissed the likes of Kl Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli cheaply. Furthermore, those are the third-best debut numbers for an Australian cricketer.
Ashwin took his 31st Test five-wicket haul
In the first innings, veteran off-spinner Ashwin had figures of 3/42. He also contributed 23 runs. Later in the innings, Ashwin took his 31st Test five-wicket haul. In 89 Tests, he has 457 wickets. Ashwin currently has more wickets than Harbhajan Singh(95) in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Only Anil Kumble (111 wickets) has more.
Forgettable performance for Aussie openers
The Australian openers were unable to provide anything noteworthy. David Warner (1 and 10) and Usman Khawaja (1 and 5) were both dismissed cheaply. Shami and Mohammed Siraj dismissed Warner and Khawaja in the first innings, respectively, while Ashwin got them out in the second.
Warner is once again dismissed by Ashwin
In the second inning, Ashwin dismissed Warner. He now has 11 Test dismissals against Warner. Only England’s Ben Stokes has been caught off guard as many times in Tests. Ashwin has dismissed Warner six times in India and five times in Australia.