The Indian fans weren’t much happy after the stand-in skipper of India, Ajinkya Rahane lost the toss at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), but the bowlers didn’t disappoint by bundling out the hosts were 195 thanks to their bowlers. It all started with Jasprit Bumrah dismissing Joe Burns for a duck followed by Ravi Ashwin getting the better of Matthew Wade before delivering his magic with the ball as he nipped out Steve Smith for a duck.
Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne survived a few close calls before the end of the first session, which went India’s way. The first hour of the second session completely belonged to Australia as Labuschagne and Travis Head looked comfortable, but then Bumrah managed to dismissed Head at gully off Bumrah followed by Mohammed Siraj getting the prized wicket of Labuschagne, who flicked the ball off his pads with a flick shot not caring about keeping it down.
WATCH – Sourav Ganguly Recalls Him Playing His 100th Test At MCG
However, little did he know about the backward square leg fielder Shubman Gill who was standing a bit close. He dived to his right and clung on to a low catch. Siraj had his maiden wicket in Test cricket and it was of none other than the set Labuschagne. At 134/5, Australia needed the skipper Tim Paine to play an innings similar to Adelaide’s first innings.
Paine and Cameron Green managed to survive the tricky phase before Tea. But soon after the resumption, they were looking in some serious difficulty. Bumrah got into the act with Ashwin to nip out the lower-order quickly. There was a controversy regarding Tim Paine’s run-out, which many believed should’ve given out by the third umpire.
However, Indian bowlers managed to do a job quite well as Australia were skittled for just 195 in 72.3 overs with Bumrah leading the pack with four wickets while Ashwin (3 wickets) and Siraj (2 wickets) sharing five wickets between them.
ALSO READ: Gautam Gambhir Reckons Rahane Is More Aggressive Than He Looks
The new-found opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill stepped out and Mitchell Starc pinned the former in front of the stumps in the very first over. However, Gill survived the toughest phase and played some glorious shots after being joined by Cheteshwar Pujara as India ended the day at 36/1, trailing only by 159 runs in the first innings. On the other hand, the Aussies will back themselves to bowl the opposition out having done it easily in the previous Test.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Indi’s performance:
Salami khiladi jab khele overseas pitches pe tab baaki ballebaazo ko Ye lagna chahiye ki pitch mein sab kuch SHUBH Hai. Yehi lag raha Hai GILL ko khelte hue dekh kar👏 #AUSvIND #goodstart #ShubmanGill
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) December 26, 2020
Outstanding bowling changes and really smart fielding placements from Rahane.
And the bowlers delivered . Ashwin, Bumrah,Siraj were absolutely brilliant. Great effort to get Australia all out for 195 on the first day. Now for the batters to get a good first innings lead #AUSvIND— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) December 26, 2020
Superb bowling display @ashwinravi99 @Jaspritbumrah93 #mohammadsiraj backing our boys to get 300 runs on board .. Go well team India @BCCI
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) December 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/amolmuzumdar11/status/1342727127741788161?s=20
Siraj finally gets to play for India India in a format that he is best suited for, the long format – Tests.#AUSvIND
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) December 26, 2020
India end Day One on 36 for one! Talk about irony! Good application shown by the Indians today. Highlight for me was Ashwin’s dismissal of Smith #IndvsAus #AUSvsIND
— Nishad Pai Vaidya (@NishadPaiVaidya) December 26, 2020
Terrific bowling by @Jaspritbumrah93 & @ashwinravi99 to restrict the aussies to 190 odd! Time for the batsman to step up and put the runs on the board! #BoxingDayTest #INDvAUS
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) December 26, 2020
The entire nation is willing Gill on – amazing to see :):)#classact #AUSvIND #BorderGavaskarTrophy
— Rohan Gavaskar (@rohangava9) December 26, 2020
Gill is just looking in complete control at the moment. #INDvsAUS #AUSvIND #AUSvsIND #cricket
— JustCricket (@justcricketblog) December 26, 2020
