Amateur India hang tight despite Labuschagne ton

Brief Scores: Australia 274/5 (Marnus Labuschagne 108, Matthew Wade 45, Tim Paine 38*, Cameron Green 28*; T Natarajan 2-63, Mohammed Siraj 1-51) vs India

The dropping bug didn't even spare Ajinkya Rahane, arguably the tidiest customer in the cordon, who lent Marnus Labuschagne a lease of life on 37 to the chagrin of a second-string Indian attack that fared much better than it looked on paper. Perched on top of the run chart in the Border-Gavaskar series, Labuschagne leveraged his fortune to smother a sublime ton that wrestled the advantage back after India got rid of the top-order early. Notwithstanding his fifth Test century, the visitors kept punching holes at regular intervals to ensure they remain in the contest at the end of the opening day of the series decider at Gabba.

India had to put the pieces together given the spate of injuries and they handed debuts to T Natarajan and Washington Sundar and a second Test cap to Shardul Thakur, although Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion was bound to raise a few eyebrows as the chinaman was once proclaimed to be the team's frontline spinner on foreign soil. It didn't help their cause either that Rahane lost another toss, throwing an attack worth a total experience of only four Tests into the deep end at Australia's fortress. However, much to the surprise of all involved, the rookies aced the test in the demoralizing absence of Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Albeit, believe it or not, it wasn't the full stop on their incredulous injury woes as Navdeep Saini picked up a groin niggle and had to be rushed for scans. 

Mohammed Siraj dealt the opening blow to prize out David Warner in the very first over of the day in what was a replica dismissal of Sydney, the tendency to feel bat on ball spelling doom as Rohit Sharma dived across to his right to pluck a stunner at second slip. Natarajan shared the new ball and spare for some over-stepping troubles, wheeled away in nifty channels to tie one end down. The boiling urge to break the shackles saw Australia gift a wicket to Thakur as Marcus Harris flicked his first delivery of the spell straight to backward square leg. Both the openers back in the hut at 17/2, India were up against the genius and his shadow, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who dipped their hands in glee given the naivety at their disposal. 

Thakur bowled nice and full in search of swing but indiscretions in control while doing so were met with cold-blooded whips and drives from Smith as he raced to 30 at Lunch, while Labuschagne bided his time to dawdle to an 82-ball 19. It was India's unerring discipline that prevented the duo from cutting loose despite the pitch being renowned for its conduciveness to run-scoring. Saini and Sundar were brought into the mix right before the break and did a fine job with those penny-pinching lengths as the first session ended on an even keel with Australia poised at 65/2. 

India had a monstrous foot in the door post Lunch with Sundar removing dangerman Smith to bag his maiden Test scalp as he whipped a full ball instinctively to short mid-wicket to depart for 37. He couldn't believe his luck and trudged off the field in utter reluctance as he knew there was a daddy hundred for the taking. Forthwith, Saini had Labuschagne steering to gully but Rahane's butter-fingers cost India a golden opportunity to put Australia under the cosh. 

Labuschagne, the beneficiary of the rub of the green on several occasions in this series, capitalized on the latest stroke of luck and raised his bat to a 145-ball fifty. He found an able ally in Matthew Wade, who went about his business with typical zest as runs came thick and fast to push India behind the eight ball. Thakur, in particular, struggled to contain the boundary flow with the ball losing its sheen and the track staying true to its reputation of a featherbed. The margin for error almost narrowed to zilch as Labuschagne punched and pulled with a touch of class to finally breach the three-figure mark for the first time in this series despite coming tantalizingly close to it on a couple of instances.

However, Australia's jubilation was marred in a jiffy with Natarajan raining down their parade to remove both the well-set batsmen in near-identical fashion. Wade fancied a nothing shot to his half-tracker to walk back unfulfilled for the umpteenth time five shy of a fifty before the centurion followed suit, miscuing a pull to leave plenty of runs on the plate. Natarajan's double whammy against the run of play propelled India into the driver's seat out of nowhere. 

Australia could have found themselves in a pickle had Thakur latched on to Cameron Green's firmly-struck bunt in his follow-through. India opted for the second new ball as soon as it was available but their new-ball merchants had run out of steam by then as Paine and Green thrived to forge a 61-run stand. Although the late flourish spared Australia a few blushes, their eventual scorecard of 274/5 versus a minnow of a bowling unit left a lot to be desired from the batting perspective. 

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