Australia v India player ratings: Josh Hazlewood, Tim Paine score big, Steve Smith’s rare failure

Aussie seamers Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc tore through the Indian bats in the First Test — but one man made it all possible.

Steve Smith, Joe Burns, Josh Hazlewood

Heading in to the first match of this Test series, all the focus was on the batting, and specifically the top of the Australian order.

Injury and poor form meant that at one stage Tim Paine was even a candidate to open. Just shy of three days later and that doesn’t seem like such an outlandish idea after all, the skipper playing a captain’s knock when others fell cheaply.

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And regardless, Australia’s bowling stocks are such that even when the batsmen fail, there are four get out of jail free cards waiting on offer, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood in particular precipitating the kind of Indian collapse that can justifiably be classed as historic.

Check out our expert’s scores below, then cast your own votes to generate your own readers’ ranking:

Originally published as Australia v India player ratings: Josh Hazlewood, Tim Paine score big, Steve Smith’s rare failure