India’s pacers send back openers early as Australia begin rebuilding at Lunch
India started the 4th Test on top, getting both the openers inside 10 overs. But the familiar duo of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne led Australia's fightback, making it to Lunch without losing further wickets as they neared another 50 stand.
Brief scores Australia 65/2 after 27 overs (Steve Smith 30*, Marnus Labuschagne 19*; Mohammed Siraj 1/18, Shardul Thakur 1/27)
India came in to the Brisbane Test with a bowling attack that has a combined experience of less than 5 Test matches. But that didn’t matter as Mohammed Siraj once again got the better of David Warner.
He sent David Warner packing in the 1st over of the match as Rohit Sharma completed a stunning catch diving to his right. Mohammed Siraj, the unlikely leader of India’s pace attack this game, led from the front in the 1st session.
T Natarajan started nervously, bowling a couple of no-balls. But the left-arm pacer got into his groove quickly, adjusting to the Gabba’s famous bounce to induce a couple of plays-and-misses from the Australian batsman.
Shardul Thakur, meanwhile, got his maiden Test wicket.
Australia lost both openers cheaply
Experts have been all praise for Ajinkya Rahane’s inspired bowling changes this series. And the skipper’s decision to bring on Shardul Thakur in the 9th over proved prophetic yet again. The pacer got Marcus Harris's wicket with the first ball he bowled, as debutant Washington Sundar held on to the catch at square leg.
Australia were keen to play out the first hour cautiously, and the scoreboard showed that as it read 22/2 after 10 overs. But Steve Smith came out with a clear intent to put off the inexperienced attack as he whipped Thakur for back to back boundaries before drinks.
Smith and Labuschagne settled in as the new ball lost its shine, getting more confident with their stroke play. Marnus Labuschagne got a boundary with a cracking straight drive before Smith scored consecutive boundaries off Thakur for the second time in the session.
Next, it was Navdeep Saini and Washington Sundar’s turn to try and break the Smith-Labuschagne stand. The bowling duo started with maidens as they built up the pressure. Australia played out the session as they saw off the leg side trap that's been a recurring theme this series.
India and Australia will both be content with how the first session went for them. Happy to see the back of Warner, India would be wary of Smith and Labuschagne’s growing stand.
Australia perform well when the duo does the bulk of the scoring, and the hosts will look to make full use of the batting-friendly conditions to pile on the runs on Day 1.