Battered Warner in doubt as chaos reigns during second Test in Delhi

Australia scrambled their way to 263 after the first day of the second Test started with chaos and ended with David Warner in doubt.

Usman Khawaja on his way to 81 at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. Picture: Getty Images.

Australia scratched and scrambled their way to 263 after the first day of the second Test in Delhi started with chaos and ended with David Warner in doubt following a blow to the head that raised fears of concussion.

Warner was said to be dizzy and was unable to take the field.

“The medical staff will have to assess tomorrow. He is a little bit weary at the moment,” Usman Khawaja said after play. “He got a knock to the arm and then the head. The staff will have to figure out what happens from here.”

Warner, who did not have a concussion test on the field, will be replaced by Matthew Renshaw if he cannot carry on.

Australia’s score was an improvement on the 177 in the first Test in Nagpur. Now it is over to a bowling attack that features one seamer, Nathan Lyon, and two young spinners with just one Test between them.

Matthew Kuhnemann opened the bowling with his skipper. The slow left-arm orthodox with 13 first-class matches and 35 wickets under his belt had flown to India in the last week as cover for Mitchell Swepson. India survived the nine overs to finish 0-21.

Khawaja and Peter Handscomb had earlier defied disorder, both scoring solid half centuries. Khawaja ran out of luck on 81 and Handscomb out of ­partners, ­returning to the pavilion on 72no.

Mohammed Shami took 4-60 and the two Ravis six wickets ­between them.

What a start it was. Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green didn’t make it from the hotel to the teamsheet. Scott ­Boland was lost between Delhi and Nagpur. Renshaw with him.

Australia lost 3-94 in a first ­session that felt as if it was in fast forward, with the second continuing at pace.

True to their word, the top order advanced at 3.5 an over, resigned it seemed to the idea of having a good time, if not for a long time. Khawaja’s half century will rank among the finest he has scored. To survive and prosper out there was an act of skill, bravery and some luck.

It took a brilliant catch to bring it to an end on 81, but the sight of the batsman on one knee, bent over his bat like a knight over his sword, told the story.

He needed to go on, he needed to prosper where others couldn’t. He almost got there.

A century here would have been worth double, the team needed him to do it, but you could not fault him for what he achieved, surviving all this brilliant ­Indian side could throw at him for 140 minutes and 125 balls.

Khawaja put on 50 with Warner (15), 41 with Marnus ­Labuschagne (18) and 59 with Handscomb.

The first two hours were frantic and fascinating. And somewhat foretold – although not without surprises.

The ball swung alarmingly in the early morning air, it rose steeply from the seamers and it spun significantly for the spinners. There was absolutely no ­relief, no place to hide.

The game rarely paused. Steve Smith made a duck, a resurrected Travis Head just 12, Khawaja was the only member of the top five to pass 18. Australia had named an extraordinary XI, with the selectors ­embattled as the batters. Rocked by the news that Starc and Green are still not fit, they brought in Kuhnemann to make his debut in place of Boland.

Renshaw was replaced by Head, apparently because the left brings even more spin to the side. Pat Cummins is the only seam bowler in the XI.

They did that in Bangladesh in 2017, but had Hilton Cartwright to bowl some seam. Here that task may fall on Labuschagne if ­anyone. The changes were so significant that the camp saw it necessary to wheel out selector Tony Dodemaide to explain them before play.

The Australian top order did all they could to hold back this mesmerising Indian attack but it wasn’t enough. If Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj don’t get you, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja must.

Ashwin is now the second bowler, behind Anil Kumble, to take 100 wickets in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Warner battled bravely under fire. Some will say his 15 was a failure, but surviving 44 balls out there and making it to drinks was the equivalent of making it to tea in Australia. Shami brutalised him with bouncers, banging one into an arm, leaving him standing emotionless as medical staff attended to him.

It took him 21 deliveries to get off the mark and he had just got into gear when an Shami found the edge. He had, at the very least, seen off the significant early swing, if not the critics who feel his time is up.

Khawaja has put in blue-collar toil in the nets and it’s paying off. After the first hour he expanded, hitting Ashwin over his head and reversing both sides to keep the score board ­ticking. He and ­Labuschagne put on 36 in a four-over spell after drinks in the knowledge runs had to be scored early.

Labuschagne eventually fell, as you must, to Ashwin after a proactive 18 from 25 deliveries. At 2-91 things didn’t look too bad, but that changed soon after when Smith was dismissed for a duck from just two deliveries.

The selections were as fascinating as the cricket.

Kuhnemann was flown in and leapfrogged Ashton Agar, who has failed to meet expectations and has acknowledged his lack of preparedness. Selectors clearly deemed a left-arm orthodox was essential, for they had the option of sticking with Boland.

“Team selection here was driven by two factors: the conditions and the personnel available,” Dodemaide said before the toss.

“The key thing is, Greeny didn’t quite make it. Starcy isn’t quite 100 per cent as well, and the other thing driving the key point between Renners and Heady was we thought we were short of fifth bowling support in Nagpur … so we feel as Heady, even though he’s an off-spinner that goes the same way, that he’s a more robust ­option for a fifth as a chop out as required.

“It’s a bit unusual going the three spin and one quick.”

It was essential to win the toss for this wicket looks as if it will become as unnavigable as a minefield in no time at all.

It’s claiming victims already.