Australia’s hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy are hanging by a thread after they crumbled to an embarrassing innings and 132-run defeat to India in the first Test in Nagpur.
Trailing by 223 runs at the start of their second innings, Australia collapsed to be all-out for 91 – their second lowest Test total against India – in just 33 overs on the third day at VCA Stadium.
After captain Pat Cummins won the toss and elected to bat first, Australia were skittled for 177 on day one, while India racked up 400 during their only innings.
Australia’s batters looked clueless against Ravichandran Ashwin on a turning pitch as the prolific India spinner starred with figures of 5-37, giving him eight wickets for the match.
The tourists narrowly avoided their lowest Test innings score against India – 83 at the MCG in 1981.
A tour that began with so much promise, as Australia looked to win a Test series in India for the first time since 2004, is in disarray.
India will take a 1-0 lead into the next match at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, a venue where they have not lost a Test since 1987.
“Sometimes it’s almost easier to put behind you those kind of losses,” Cummins said.
“You are looking at small margins, you have to have a hard look at your game and the big strides you need to change to give yourself the best chance next week.
“We’ve had a really good run the last 12 months.
“There hasn’t been many losses in that change room. I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel, it’s just tweaking different approaches to how we play, and maybe particular methods.”
Australia’s first match in India in six years started in chaotic fashion and ended the same way.
Selectors gambled by dropping Travis Head, the world’s No.4-ranked batter, based on his poor record in Asia after fruitless tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka last year.
Head’s replacement at No.5, Matt Renshaw, made scores of 0 and 2 and spent much of the second day off the ground with knee soreness.
Australia badly missed the services of allrounder Cameron Green, who is no certainty to play in Delhi as he continues his recovery from a broken finger.
Fast bowlers Mitchell Starc (finger) and Josh Hazlewood (achilles) will also be pushing to be selected for the second Test.
The only bright spot for Australia was the stunning debut of offspinner Todd Murphy.
The 22-year-old finished with figures of 7-124 to become the sixth Australian to take seven or more wickets in his debut Test, with the most recent before him being spinner Jason Krezja in 2008.
But India had far more matchwinners to grind the Aussies down.
Star allrounder Ravi Jadeja, playing his first Test since July after undergoing knee surgery, set the tone for India on day one with figures of 5-47.
India captain and hometown hero Rohit Sharma (120) then peeled off a flawless century, his ninth in Tests, to quickly push the hosts past Australia’s mediocre total.
“I don’t know the mental status of the Australian team,” Sharma said.
“I can certainly vouch for our team because we are the ones who are wanting to play on pitches like this, we’ve been playing on pitches like this for the last three or four years.”
Murphy took regular wickets, but Jadeja punished Australia again by smashing 70 and was joined by fellow spinner Axar Patel (84no) in forming a crucial lower-order stand.
India’s innings ended just before lunch, but Australia’s batters could not last until the tea break.
© AAP 2023
