Rohit, Jadeja, star as India thrash Australia by innings & 132 runs

Nagpur: India capitalised on the fear of spin in the minds of the Australian batters on a spin-friendly wicket, to bowl them out for 91, their lowest total in India and second lowest ever, winning the first Test by an innings and 132 run defeat in the first Test at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here.

India took a 1-0 lead in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, setting themselves for the 3-0 win they needed to comfortably seal their Berth in the World Test Championships Final to be held later this year at the Oval in London.

Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a devastating spell of 12 overs to claim 5 wickets for 37 runs as India bowled out Australia within a session after Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Mohammed had helped the hosts reach 400 runs in their first innings, adding some quick runs in the morning session, giving India a lead of 223 runs.

However, Ravindra Jadeja was the star of India’s memorable win as he shone both with the ball and bat to single-handedly put Australia under pressure. Jadeja, making a comeback from a knee injury after a five-month break, claimed 5-47 in their first innings and then scored 70 runs, sharing crucial partnerships of 61 runs with skipper Rohit Sharma, who scored a majestic 120, and 84 runs for the eighth wicket with Axar Patel (84) as India handed Australia a comprehensive defeat.

Skipper Rohit Sharma had set the tone for India’s dominance with a brilliant century, starting aggressively and then buckling down to tackle the Australian spinners, grinding out the bowling.

India had added 79 runs in the morning session to set Australia the target of scoring a minimum of 224 runs to make them bat again. But the Australians, who were out for 177 in their first innings, fared even poorly in the second essay as they succumbed too easily with their batters coming up with a spineless performance.

Ashwin bowled his overs from the North End of the ground and in 50-odd balls had the Australians reeling to their lowest-ever score in India. The previous lowest score for Australia was 93 they scored in 2004.

Australia were bowled out in less than a session, their innings lasting 32.3 overs and lasted just 131 minutes.

Ashwin, who claimed his 450th wicket in the first innings, recorded his 31st five-for as the Australian batters failed to read his bowling and went back to the pavilion in a procession.

Steve Smith remained not out on 25 as only four Australian batsmen managed to reach double figures in a disastrous batting display. At one time they were looking to get out for the lowest score at the VCA Stadium, Jamtha — 79 scored by South Africa in 2017.

Ashwin claimed the wicket of Usman Khawaja (5) caught by Kohli as he was deceived by the turn, trapped David Warner (10) lbw with one that stayed low, caught Matt Renshaw plumb in front of the wicket with another one that stayed low and got Peter Handscomb lbw, hitting the front pad around the knee roll.

Alex Cary played a premeditated reverse sweep and missed the line totally to be hit on the back pad as Ashwin destroyed the Australian batting.

Ravindra Jadeja, who had claimed 5-47 in the first innings, bagged 2 for 34 while Mohammed Shami claimed 3-13 from five overs as he wiped out the tail.

Image courtesy of (Times Now)

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