For the third time in this series, Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Steve Smith to break a burgeoning partnership between Australia’s talisman batter and opener Usman Khawaja, and allow India to come back on Day 1 of the 4th Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Ahmedabad.
At the Narendra Modi Stadium, Steve Smith, the Australian captain doing the duties in the place of the absent Pat Cummins, won the toss and elected to bat first on what Smith termed was a “good pitch” to bat and the best surface for batters in this series.
Throughout the course of the day, Australia built partnerships, but India broke them to not allow the visitors grow their total, and the Indian bowlers also remained highly disciplined, controlling the scoring rate.
The Smith-Khawaja partnership of 79 (248) was broken by Ravindra Jadeja
Steve Smith was looking good today and looking set for a big knock; defending well, putting away the bad balls, soaking in all the pressure, taking his time, and frustrating the Indian bowlers. Until Ravindra Jadeja got one to take Smith’s inside edge and rattle into the sticks in the 64th over of the day.
He scored 38 runs off 135 balls, hitting only 3 fours. He and Khawaja put on a masterclass of defensive play, in particular on the back foot.
Smith’s resilience was ended by Ravindra Jadeja, who had luck on his side this time. A length delivery on off-stump that straightened after pitching. Smith played for the little turn, but only got the inside edge as the ball deflected off the inside edge and onto the stumps, dislodging the baills.
Ravindra Jadeja was off in his celebration with his arms afloat while Smith angrily hit the bat on the ground, knowing he was out was an innocent delivery and missed out on a big score.
Watch: Ravindra Jadeja bowled Steve Smith:
GONEEEEE!
A sensational delivery by @imjadeja sends Steve Smith back to the pavilion. #TeamIndia strike! 🔥Tune-in to LIVE action in the Mastercard #INDvAUS Test on Star Sports & Disney+Hotstar! #BelieveInBlue #TestByFire #Cricket pic.twitter.com/YAydx9gYYW
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 9, 2023
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav
Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon
