During the third day of the first Test match of Australia’s tour of India 2023 in Nagpur, India beat Australia by an innings and 132 runs to attain a 1-0 lead in this four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It took an embarrassing batting collapse on the part of the Australians for this match to finish within eight sessions.
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It wouldn’t be wrong to mention that Australia weren’t expected to buckle down under pressure in such a disastrous manner. Considering how their batters are more than capable of playing spin even in Indian conditions, Australia registered one of their worst batting performances in recent times to get all out on 91 in 32.3 overs right before the tea break in the second innings.
India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin registered a 31st five-wicket haul in Test cricket to play a titular role in bundling out the visitors in the afternoon session. Ashwin, who picked bowling figures of 12-3-37-5 within a session, managed to pick his 24th Test five-wicket haul in Asia, 20th at home and fifth against the Aussies.
🖐️🇮🇳 #blessed #grateful pic.twitter.com/jWctbSMmLJ
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) February 11, 2023
Opening the bowling with Mohammed Shami (4.3-1-13-2), Ashwin sent both the Australian opening batters back to the pavilion in spite of former India captain Virat Kohli dropping David Warner (10). All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (12-3-34-2) trapped Marnus Labuschagne (17) but Ashwin ran through the Australian middle-order dismissing the likes of Matthew Renshaw (2), Peter Handscomb (6) and Alex Carey (10) in quick succession.
Man of the Match India vs Australia 1st Test
As pointed out by legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar yesterday, India’s triumphant effort has come on the back of Jadeja, Ashwin and captain Rohit Sharma’s praiseworthy contributions. While there were enough reasons to hand either of them with a match award on Saturday, the panel decided to pick Jadeja for the Player of the Match award at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium today.
Playing his first Test match in over seven months, Jadeja performed as if he hadn’t been away from international cricket for more than five months. Jadeja, who picked his 11th Test five-wicket haul on Day 1, scored an 18th Test half-century on Day 2 to be a deserving contender of his eighth such award in this format.
“When you come back after five months and give your 100%, scoring runs and taking wickets, feels amazing. Was working hard at the NCA [National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru]. Would like to thank the NCA staff, physios. They have been working hard with me, even on Sundays,” Jadeja told Star Sports Network during the post-match presentation ceremony.
