On the first day of the third Test match against Australia, Umesh Yadav tied Virat Kohli’s batting record.
India’s batting performance on the first day of the third Test match against Australia in Indore was dismal, as the hosts were bowled out for 109. Umesh Yadav was the only batsman who could get going against the Australian spinners, and he ended up reaching a major milestone. The fast bowler hit two huge sixes off of Matthew Kuhnemann’s bowling to tie Virat Kohli’s record of 24 sixes in Test matches. Also, he moved up to 17th on the list of Indian cricketers with the most Test sixes, surpassing former head coach Ravi Shastri, who had 22 before this match. Virender Sehwag had the most runs scored (91), followed by MS Dhoni (78).
Australia bowled India out for 109 runs on Wednesday thanks to the efforts of left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemman, who made the most of the favorable circumstances to collect his first five-wicket haul.
After electing to bat first, India’s aggressive strategy backfired, and they were all out for their innings total in just 33.2 overs on a pitch that offered violent spin.
The pitch was predicted to turn a lot as it did in the previous two Tests, so it came as a bit of a surprise when the ball started turning square in the opening hour of play and the odd one kept low.
India’s Virat Kohli made 22 runs off 52 balls, and Shubhman Gill, who came in to bat at number one in place of KL Rahul due to his poor form, scored 21.
Kahneman (5/16), in only his second Test, finished with career-best numbers in first-class cricket, and India could only add 25 more runs to their total after losing seven batters before the conclusion of the first session.
India would not have been able to cross the 100-run barrier without Umesh Yadav’s 17 runs off of 13 balls. He finished with two sixes and a four using the slog sweep efficiently.
Kuhnemman finished off an impressive five-wicket haul by catching Umesh lbw. Due to a mix-up between Mohammad Siraj and Axar Patel, the innings came to a close.
After tea on day one, Australia was 71 for one in 22 overs thanks to some solid batting from Usman Khawaja (33 runs off 77 balls) and Marnus Labuschagne (16 runs off 51 balls), who was out to a no-ball.
It was hoped that Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would be able to do more damage to the Australian batting lineup than they really did. Travis Head (9), India’s only victim, went out to an lbw decision after missing a straight ball from Jadeja.
As Jadeja bowled a no-ball for the third time in the series, Labuschagne was compelled to play onto his stumps.
Australia applied themselves well despite challenging conditions, which was different from the case in their previous encounter. Khawaja and Labuschagne, in defending against spinners, both have faith in their defense. During the course of his nine overs, Ashwin was a touch too full with his bowling.
India’s use of two of their three perspectives in the first 10 overs was a hint of desperation. When India did not appeal the lbw decision against Labuschagne, he was given another chance to bat. Ashwin got the dismissal. The black earth surface at Holkar Stadium played like a day-three pitch, as described by Matthew Hayden earlier on air.
The team’s captain, Rohit Sharma (12), second-highest scorer Jadeja (4), and lowest scorer Shreyas Iyer (0) all perished while batting.
Kohli seemed confident in the middle until he was trapped lbw by Todd Murphy late in the session. When India finally won the toss in this series, they did what everyone expected and opted to bat first. Umesh Yadav was inserted for a rested Mohammad Shami, and Shubman Gill came in for a slumping K. L. Rahul.
Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green both returned to the Australian starting eleven after suffering fitness setbacks.
A major highlight of the morning was Starc’s first over to Rohit. Starc got the ball to swing, which made things difficult for the Indian captain before the spinners swept through the Indian batting.
On the first ball he faced, Rohit got a faint outside edge, but Australia decided not to review. After Starc had bowled three more times, the ball swung back in and flicked Rohit’s pads. The ball would have hit the off stump according to the tracking, but Australia opted not to use DRS again.
Gill, batting at the opposite end, opened with a beautiful cover drive to Green.
On the sixth over, Kuhnemman introduced spin and got the ball to turn sharply. Rohit tried playing across the line in the final delivery of the over, but he was beaten in the air, and Alex Carey took a clean stumping.
Kuhnemann grabbed Gill at the first slip after the opener got a heavy outside edge while defending aggressively.
Lyon got one to turn enormously from wide off stump, and it crashed through the middle stump, ending Cheteshwar Pujara’s stay after only four balls. In addition, the ball was kept a little below waist level, putting Pujara on the defensive.
As a result of Jadeja’s dismissal, the score is now 44–4.
The southpaw tried for the kill against Lyon after a close DRS call but got caught at short extra cover.
As Iyer attempted a cut and hit his stumps, it was Kuhnemann’s third wicket of the morning and India had lost half their side in the first hour of play.
Before Kohli and K S Bharat left for the day, the sixth wicket had produced 26 runs.
When looking to flick a ball that pitched on the off-stump and turned to strike the middle, Kohli was out-caught lbw by Murphy.
Bharat went out lbw to Lyon while attempting a long defensive stride. Bharat had slog-swept Murphy for a six.
