Australia v India Boxing Day scores, highlights: Hosts in trouble after rough day
It's advantage India after an opening day of the Boxing Day Test which had it all and left Australia with a huge task to claw its way back into the match.
Marnus Labuschagne has conceded that Australia’s batting line-up was being strangled by India and it faced a steep challenge to outsmart the clever bowling plans.
Captain Tim Paine won the toss and batted first but finished Boxing Day wearing the gloves after his team was rocked and rolled for 195 runs by a patched-up attack.
Seamer Jasprit Bumrah (4-56) and spinner Ravi Ashwin (3-35) landed punch after punch before India matched its pathetic Adelaide Oval total of 36 runs – but this time with nine wickets up its sleeve.
Stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane stacked his leg-side field, which remarkably brought down Steve Smith (duck), Labuschagne (48), Paine (13) and Mitchell Starc (seven).
India stubbornly stuck to its plans and eventually reaped the rewards.
The tactics gave India a leg-up a week after captain Virat Kohli legged it back to Mumbai for the birth of his first child.Labuschagne said the lopsided field was limiting the scoring zones.
“You just know you’re going to have to lock in and bat for a long period of time,” he said.
“They’re bowling real straight lines and we’re not getting many runs through the off-side.
“This is the art of Test cricket, this is why we all love it. The continual challenge for the bowlers to come up with new ideas to stop the batter’s scoring and build pressure.
“That’s what they did today. I think I faced 130-something (132) balls again today
“By no means are we scoring freely and that’s the challenge for us.”
The new ball seamed around on an improved MCG pitch and it started swinging by the 50th over.
Debutant Mohammed Siraj (2-40) swung the ball away from left-hander Travis Head in the second session, and swung the match swung India’s way by dismissing Labuschagne.
“That’s (swing) something that we probably don’t usually see here at the MCG at that time,” Labuschagne said.
“I think we’re in the game. We certainly showed last game that it doesn’t matter how many you have you’re in the game.
“It’s pretty hard to make an assessment on the wicket currently. You’re going to have to let both teams bat.”
Coach Justin Langer declared the Aussies targeted 400 runs in the first innings on home decks – but his batsmen have now had two cracks (191 and 195) and haven’t even reached half of that magical number.
Winning the toss and batting first on Boxing Day has been a free pass for bowlers to put their feet up in recent years.
But Paine once again had to call upon his awesome foursome attack to bowl Australia out of trouble, and Starc answered the call by trapping opener Mayank Agarwal for a duck in the first over.
Pat Cummins should’ve had debutant Shubman Gill for four, but Marnus Labuschagne – fielding at third slip – threw his hands at the catch so hard that the ball popped out.
Opener Matthew Wade (knee) finished his 33rd birthday with an icepack on his knee in a major concern after taking a tumble trying to save a boundary.Perennial 12th man Michael Neser replaced Wade in the field although it is understood Wade will be fit to field on Sunday.
Seasoned players noted from the commentary box they had never seen the MCG pitch spin like this in a sign India selected wisely by partnering spinner Ravi Ashwin with Ravi Jadeja.
In many ways normal programming resumed on a day which confirmed last Saturday’s historic collapse by India (all-out for 36) and half-century by Joe Burns (duck on Boxing Day) were anomalies.
India’s most painful moment came when it was confident Australia’s captain was short of his crease, the fate suffered by counterpart Kohli last week.One angle appeared to show Paine out and another angle appeared to show him in, so TV umpire Paul Wilson gave the batsman the benefit.
Shane Warne couldn’t believe it.
“Very surprised that Tim Paine survived,” Warne said.
“There was no part of his bat behind the line!”
But it mattered little as Paine only lifted his score from six to 13.
Victorian Paul Reiffel – who played the first of his four Boxing Day Tests back in 1993 – umpired his first home Test with an eagle eye, his on-field decisions repeatedly backed up by DRS.
India’s debutants Gill and Siraj were among the MCG’s 27,615 spectators in the first session as Rahane turned to spin well before Siraj’s swing.
But the the son of an auto rickshaw driver who chose to stay on tour when his father died last month digested his lunch and then livened up India’s attack after digIndia went from sloppy to slick in the field with the exception of untidy inclusion Rishabh Pant, who is clearly in the team for his X-factor batting and not his wicket-keeping.
At 3-79 the scoreboard somehow flattered Australia, with 10 of those runs coming as byes.
The only reason Australia's innings lasted until 5pm was India's snail-paced over rate.Former Test opener Michael Slater hit out at Australia’s top six.
“I just question the intent of the Australian batting mindset at the moment,” Slater said on Channel 7.
“Matty Wade started and then he’s looked the best all day. But have we got our top six thinking about scoring runs enough?”
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Originally published as Australia v India Boxing Day scores, highlights: Hosts in trouble after rough day
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