Even before a ball was bowled in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the war of words had begun with Australian players complaining of the kind of tracks they are given for practice whenever they come to India. The Nagpur pitch turned out to be a tough nut to crack for the Aussies as their openers Usman Khawaja and David Warner were dismissed cheaply by Indian pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. On Day 2 of the first Test, soon after Rohit Sharma slammed his maiden Test ton as captain, Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) took to Twitter to brutally troll the Aussies.
After skittling Australia out for just 177 runs, Indian captain Rohit Sharma led from the front as he smashed his maiden ton in Test cricket as the skipper of the team. Soon after Sharma reached the triple-digit score, RR took to social media to post an image of Steve Smith inspecting the wicket.
Earlier, Australia were bowled out for 177 in their first innings as Ravindra Jadeja, who made a comeback to Test cricket, ripped through the Australian batting order with a five-wicket haul. Seasoned off-spinner R Ashwin also claimed three wickets while Siraj and Shami bagged one wicket apiece.
At the end of the first day’s play, Australian batter Peter Handscomb lauded the Indian bowlers and said the visitors were tricked by the Nagpur track.
“It definitely wasn’t easy out there. It’s tough because when the pitch is playing tricks that starts to play with your mind a little bit as well,” Handscomb said at the press conference after the opening day’s play.
“The ball that doesn’t do as much you expect to do a little bit more and that’s where you can come undone with the ball that goes straight on, rather than the big turners we saw out there as well.”
