Mohammed Shami dismissed Marnus Labuschagne with a killer blow ball (Twitter image)
Mohammed Shami picked up a crucial wicket of Marnus Labuschagne to put India on top ahead of Lunch on Day 1
Team India were put under pressure straightaway by the Australian openers right on Day 1 of the fourth Test between India and Australia at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.
After Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bat first, Australia’s openers Usman Khawaja and Travis Head put together a crucial 61-run stand. They opted for a cautious approach first, and once they got into the groove, runs began to flow from their bats.
While Ravichandran Ashwin helped draw the first blood for India by dismissing Travis Head, once Mohammed Shami claimed the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne it appeared that the Indian team had turned the tide in their favour.
Shami had been rested for the third Test in Indore and didn’t get off to an ideal start by any means. Rohit Sharma turned to the veteran pacer with the new ball but the 32-year-old began with a wide and bowled some more wayward deliveries.
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While Shami bowled five overs and was then rested for a while, Rohit knew that he had made the right choice by playing Shami as the veteran fully paid off his skipper’s faith but picked up the crucial wicket of Labuschagne.
The Indian pacer bowled a full-length delivery which Marnus tried to push towards the off-side although the ball took an inside edge and rattled the stumps. Labuschagne looked unimpressed with his attempt however with no footwork, he was at fault and thus Shami claimed a crucial wicket.
Australia finished the first session at 75/2 as Lunch was taken although the pair of Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith dominated the Indian bowlers in the second session.
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For the first time in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, not a single wicket fell in a session as Smith and Khawaja’s 77-run partnership took the visitors to 149/2 at Tea.
However, soon after Ravindra Jadeja helped India make a comeback in the contest as the Indian all-rounder removed Smith to get India’s third wicket of the day.
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