Australia vs India 2018-19, 1st Test: Perfect start for the Aussies
56 for 4 after the first session with KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane back in the pavilion with all four wickets falling to the three Aussie spearheads. All four dismissals can be described as driven, edged and caught. Despite India starting this tour as favourites against the culturally-tweaked Australian side, the Tim Paine-led Australia couldn't have dreamt for a better start.
2 out of 4
KL Rahul's misery run continues as he was dismissed in the very second over the Test match trying to drive Hazlewood's fifth off-stump teaser, edging it straight to the hands of Finch at gully. Seems like KL Rahul is waiting for the last match of the tour to score a ton and seal his spot in the squad.
However, retaining him anymore will be tough with Murali Vijay, Prithvi Shaw, and Shikhar Dhawan competing for the spot. Murali Vijay too was a prey to the outside off swinging off volley but he edged off Starc straight back into the hands of Tim Paine.
Pat Cummins has now dismissed Virat Kohli two times in the four balls he has bowled to him in Tests. The first time was a year back in India during the Jharkhand Test match. In this match, Usman Khawaja did a Ricky Ponting at gully who almost flew to 3rd slip to catch Kohli's nick.
Pujara, the New Wall?
19 for 3 at the11th over with Virat Kohli back to pavilion things were already looking bad in the very first hour of the Test match. It was Cheteshwar Pujara once again anchoring at one end ensuring the ship doesn't sink off. As opponents' top batsmen back to the pavilion, Tim Paine was Australian enough to give the 12-overs-old new ball to the spinner. With Lyon into the attack, it seemed comparatively easy for the pair to settle in.
Just when it looked like Rahane was settling in, that too after a scoring a six coming down the track off Lyon, he perished to Hazlewood's outswinger. Rahane's spot will be under scrutiny if he fails to capitalize as both Rohit Sharma and Hanuma Vihari are already battling for a place at the middle order.
Kohli has ditched his five-bowler policy totally by picking Rohit ahead of Vihari for the number 6 position, neglecting Vihari's part-time bowling services. Rohit seems to have grabbed the opportunity as well, as he already looks set in along with Pujara. Has scored solid 15 runs off 23 balls comprising a cover drive four and his vintage pull six.
All the Indian fans out there, who would have woke up early on a Thursday morning to watch Indians bat, would hope this partnership between Pujara and Rohit to last long enough to compensate the bad start.