Watch: Steve Smith in disbelief as Ravindra Jadeja cleans him up with a ripper during Day 1 of IND VS AUS first Test

Steve Smith, Ravindra Jadeja (Source: Twitter)

The first Test between India and Australia finally got underway on Thursday and it treated fans with some riveting cricketing action. After India made early inroads into the Australian batting with two early wickets. Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne added 82 runs for the third wicket to stabilize the innings. Both batters were eventually dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja who brought India back into the game.

From the three wickets that the left-arm spinner took till the second session of the match, the dismissal of Steve Smith was an absolute joy to watch. Smith had just moved to 37 and was looking to take the attack on the Indian bowling. Jadeja bowled a full delivery to Australia’s premier batter who ended up playing for the turn but the delivery straightened and crashed into his stumps. Smith was in disbelief at what had just happened and trudged off to the pavilion.

Watch the video here:

Ravindra Jadeja with the massive wicket of Steve Smith...

Jaddu gets through the tough defence of Smudge!

Australia in all sorts of trouble!#INDvsAUS #SirJadeja #BGT2023pic.twitter.com/Vth7wGg9Zg

— OneCricket (@OneCricketApp) February 9, 2023

Coming back to the match, Australian captain Pat Cummins won the crucial toss and elected to bat first. India handed the debut caps to Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat while Australia gave it to Todd Murphy. Surprisingly, the Indian team management went with  KL Rahul ahead of the in-form Shubman Gill and also decided to go ahead with Axar Patel ahead of Kuldeep Yadav. Yadav had outbowled Patel in the previous Test series against Bangladesh.

The Indian seamers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj came out all guns blazing and gave two early blows to the Aussies. Shami and Siraj dismissed openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja respectively. Khawaja was trapped in front of the stumps by Siraj while Shami dismantled Warner’s stumps on the first ball of his second over.

Australia finish second session on 174/8

After the early blows, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith added 82 runs for the third wicket and stabilized the innings. Ravindra Jadeja broke the dangerous partnership by picking two wickets in one over.

He first dismissed dangerous Labuschagne on 49 and Matt Renshaw for a golden duck. The left-arm spinner further picked the ‘all-important’ scalp of Steve Smith on 37 to leave Australia at 109/5 after 42 overs. Alex Carey and Peter Handscomb added 53 runs for the sixth wicket to get Australia past 150. Australia were 174/8 at tea with Nathan Lyon and Peter Handscomb (29) at the crease.