The opening game of the highly awaited four-match Test series between India and Australia commenced at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on February 9. The Australian skipper, Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first. Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat made their Test debuts for India, while Todd Murphy made his Australia Test debut as well.
Mohammad Shami got David Warner and Mohammed Siraj got Usman Khawaja in his first over itself. Then Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne came together and looked comfortable on a surface that had a lot of spinners.
WATCH – Virat Kohli Drops Steve Smith In The First Session Of The Day 1 In The First Test
Labuschagne looked amazingly comfortable for someone playing their first Test knock in Indian conditions against the skillful Indian bowlers and played a gritty knock of 49 runs before being stumped by KS Bharat off Ravindra Jadeja. Before that R Ashwin came to bowl to Labuschagne and immediately one delivery was pitched full but as Labuschagne tried to defend it, the ball rocketed and struck him high on the batter’s left thigh.
This led to an interesting exchange between R Ashwin and Marnus Labuschagne as the Indian off-spinner gestured to the batter almost warning him about the spin on offer.
WATCH – KS Bharat Shares An Emotional Moment With His Mother After Receiving His Debut Cap
Ashwin looked at keeper Bharat and rotated his finger to indicate the amount of spin on offer, indirectly intimidating the batter. Marnus Labuschagne had some words for Ashwin as well and all of this was captured on the camera.
Here is the video of the incident:
— Anna 24GhanteChaukanna (@Anna24GhanteCh2) February 9, 2023
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland
