INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: India batters fell like a pack of cards on a treacherous spinning wicket of Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore
Australia spinners Matthew Kuhnemann and Nathan Lyon ripped into Indias batting as the hosts were bowled out for 109 runs in just 33.2
overs.Kuhnemann claimed a five-fer, while experienced Lyon bagged three wickets and Todd Murphy got the prized wicket of Indias batting icon
Virat Kohli.Australia remained in a commanding position, reaching 156/4 at stumps, leading by 47 runs at the close of Day 1 play
Peter Handscomb (7) and Cameron Green (6) were unbeaten at the crease.In reply to Indias 109, Australia had lost Travis Head for 9 runs
He was dismissed lbw by Ravindra Jadeja.Khawaja and Labuschagne reanimated Australias innings and formed a 96-run stand before the latter
was bowled by Jadeja for 31 runs.Khawaja became Jadejas 3rd victim when he tried to sweep but ended up providing a basic catch to Shubman
Gill in deep.The 34-year-old star allrounder then declared his fourth wicket by dismissing captain Steve Smith for 26 runs.Like the last two
Tests, the pitch was anticipated to use plenty of turn however the ball turning square in the first hour of play and the odd one keeping low
came as a small surprise.Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden, on air, called the black soil surface area at the Holkar Stadium a
day-three pitch and it sure behaved like one.Three batters including skipper Rohit Sharma (12 ), Jadeja (4 ), and Shreyas Iyer (0) died
while trying to attack.Kohli looked assured in the middle before being trapped lbw by Todd Murphy towards the end of the session
Kohli leading scored for India with 22 off 52 balls while opener Shubhman Gill, who changed struggling KL Rahul, contributed 21
Winning the toss for the very first time in the series, India expectedly chose to bat first.Starcs very first over to Rohit was among the
highlights of the early morning session
Before the spinners ran through the Indian batting, Starc got the ball to swing giving the India skipper a difficult time.Rohit got a faint
outside edge on the extremely first ball he dealt with however Australia did not take an evaluation
Three balls later, Starc got the ball to swing back in and it flicked Rohits pads
Ball tracking showed the ball would have struck the off stump but Australia decided versus taking DRS again.Gill faced Green from the other
end and began his innings with a classy cover drive.Spin was introduced in the 6th over and Kuhnemman got the ball to turn sharply
In the last ball of the over, Rohit stepped out to play across the line and got beaten in the flight and Alex Carey made a clean
stumping.Kuhnemann had actually Gill caught in the beginning slip with the opener getting a thick outside edge while offering a forward
defence.Cheteshwar Pujaras stay lasted just 4 balls as Lyon got one to turn enormously from wide off stump that crashed into the middle
The ball kept a little bit low too and Pujara was discovered wanting on the back foot.Jadejas fall made it 44 for four.After enduring a
close DRS call, the southpaw went for the attack versus Lyon and was caught at short additional cover.Kuhnemann got this 3rd wicket of the
early morning when Iyer played a tried cut on to his stumps and within the very first hour of play, India had actually lost half their
side.Kohli and K S Bharat shared 26 runs for the sixth wicket before leaving towards the end of the session.Kohli was adjudged leg prior to
off Murphy while attempting to snap one that pitched on the off-stump and turned to strike the middle.Bharat, who slog-swept Murphy for a
six, was out lbw to Lyon while using a long protective stride.(With inputs from firms)
