India’s premier spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin gave Australia a massive setback in the first innings of the ongoing second Test of the four-match series, as he picked the wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith within a space of three deliveries. R Ashwin trapped Labuschagne in front of stumps and induced an outside edge off Steve Smith on a low bounce delivery to send him back to the pavilion a delivery later.
The quick wickets meant Australia returned at Lunch with three batters down, having a total of 94 on the board in 25 overs so far. Marnus Labuschagne had made a positive start to his innings, as he amassed 18 off 24 deliveries when R Ashwin struck the crucial breakthrough for the side.
WATCH – R Ashwin Gives An Indirect Warning To Labuschagne For A Run-out At Non-striker’s End
Coming from around the wicket, R Ashwin got the ball to straighten and even as the umpire gave it not-out on the field, the spinner nudged captain Rohit Sharma to take the review, eventually resulting in his first wicket of the match. Incidentally, this was also his 700th First-Class wicket.
The onus was now on Steve Smith to steer a rebuild for the Australian team but he only managed to survive for a couple of deliveries. On the final delivery of the over, Smith found an outside edge carried to wicketkeeper KS Bharat, who made no mistake in clinging on to the ball, despite it staying relatively lower.
Here is the video of the dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne Steve Smith:
Marnus Labuschagne ✅
Steve Smith ✅@ashwinravi99 gets 2⃣ big wickets in one over 💪💥#TeamIndia #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/UwSIxep8q2— BCCI (@BCCI) February 17, 2023
Earlier in the game, the Australian skipper, Pat Cummins won the toss again and he had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. The Test marked the 100th appearance in Test cricket for Cheteshwar Pujara for India, as he was felicitated by Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar ahead of the game.
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As the players took the field, Pujara was also given a guard of honor by the Indian team members, as well as Australia openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner. Australia lost their first wicket on the score of 50 when Mohammed Shami struck the breakthrough, inducing an outside edge off David Warner and KS Bharat took an easy catch. Warner fell on 15. India is leading the four-match series 1-0.
