AUS vs IND: Aussies dominate the first day, as Indian bowling struggles throughout the day

The third test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy is underway as the first day ends with Australia up in the game. Australia came in after losing the Boxing Day test and with the series levelled at 1-1.

Australian captain Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat wicket. Both side had changes as the Indian team got  Rohit Sharma in place of Mayank Agarwal while Navdeep Saini came in for injured Umesh Yadav. For Australia, they got their experienced opener David Warner back and the debutant Will Pucovski got his place in the team. Joe Burns and Travis Head were dropped from the side.

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The conditions were in favour of the batsmen yet India was successful in getting an early breakthrough as Warner was sent back by Siraj for a low score. Labuschagne joined Pucovski at the crease but soon the rain came in and the players were back in the dugout. The first session was spoiled by rain and an early lunch was taken by the officials. The second session was entirely dominated by the Aussies as they didn’t lose any wicket in this session. Labuschagne and Pucovski were smartly playing each bowler and didn’t give much chance to the Indian bowlers. A few chances were created but dropped. Rishabh Pant was the culprit in both dropped chances. Pucovski got to his maiden half century in tests by hammering back to back boundaries off Saini’s bowling.

Saini got the revenge as he was the one who got Pucovski in the third session of the day. Pucovski scored 62 in his first outing in the tests. Labuschagne and Smith continued the momentum set by Pucovski as Smith was almost a run a ball at one point. Smith and Labuschagne were playing Bumrah well as they weren’t giving him any opportunity to get them out.

The day ended with Smith and Labuschagne both remaining not out at the crease as the Indian bowlers had a tough day in the field. The score stands at 166 for loss of 2 wickets. Labuschagne is playing at 67 while Smith is not out at 31. For India, Siraj got Warner earlier in the day while Saini got Pucovski in the final session of the day.