Welcome to news.com.au’s live coverage of the opening Test between Australia and India from Nagpur.
Australia will be hoping for a change in fortune after an ugly opening day that saw them bowled out for a bleak 177 after losing the final five wickets for just 15 runs.
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India meanwhile looked like they were batting on a different pitch as captain Rohit Sharma slammed 56 off 69 balls on the day to lead India to 1/77 at stumps and a commanding position.
Debutant Todd Murphy provided the only glimmer of hope on the day for the Aussies, picking up his first Test wicket in the second last over of the day as he sent KL Rahul on his way.
India will look to put the tourists further to the sword when they resume at the crease at 3pm (AEDT).
Don’t miss any of the action below.
2.15pm – India respond to damning footage
Nothing to see here folks, just a player user pain relief cream on his finger. Not the ball.
Damning footage led to eyebrows being raised during the opening day’s play when Ravindra Jadeja appeared to be rubbing something on the ball before one of his overs.
The TV broadcast captured Jadeja appearing to either take something off the hand of one of his teammates, or from inside his hand, with his right hand.
He then rubbed his hands and finger near and around the ball though it was uncertain what exactly was happening.
But Indian officials have attempted to downplay the moment, saying he was simply “applying pain-relief cream to the index finger of his bowling hand”, according to ESPNcricinfo.
“While the incident triggered debates on social and mainstream media, it is learned that the Australia team had not brought the matter to the attention of the match referee,” the report said.
“According to the playing conditions, the match referee can independently probe such incidents without needing a complaint to be lodged. And under the Laws of Cricket, the bowler needs the umpire’s permission to apply any sort of substance on their hands to ensure the condition of the ball remains unaffected.”
12.30pm – Clarke ‘bewildered’ by Head omission
Former Test skipper Michael Clarke couldn’t believe his ears when news filtered out that Travis Head, the number four ranked batter in the world, had been left out of the Aussie team for the First Test.
The bombshell decision to leave out the man who was arguably Australia’s best batter of the summer sent shockwaves around the cricket community.
Steve Waugh was flabbergasted, Matthew Hayden was equally perplexed as cricket fans blew up at the decision.
Clarke weighed in and was just as dumbfounded by what the Australian selectors had done.
“The only thing I can’t get my head around is the selectors, Pat Cummins, Andrew McDonald … why they dropped Travis Head?” Clarke said on Big Sports Breakfast.
While the former skipper said he could understand putting Handscomb into the team at No. 5 ahead of Head at No. 6, it was the inclusion of Renshaw that baffled him.
Renshaw has been opening the batting for Queensland during the Sheffield Shield season, but Clarke says that compared to batting in the middle order in India was “like speaking French compared to speaking English”.
“I can’t understand it. I can’t comprehend it,” he said.
“The other thing, Travis Head bowls. He bowls right arm off spin. His bowling in India will be very, very handy. I’m so confused and bewildered by that decision.
“The other thing, if you’re not going to pick the No. 4 best batter in the world for the First Test match, what is he doing on the tour?
“With only four bowlers, Travis Head as an all-rounder is a no-brainer for me.”
Another former Australian Test skipper however wasn’t as shocked by the omission.
Ricky Ponting told the ICC Review podcast that while he could understand the dismay at the selection from some corners of Australian cricket, the writing had been on the wall for Head’s omission.
“The more I thought about it, the fact that they played Matt Renshaw in Sydney to me meant they probably had other plans in mind for him,” Ponting said.
“Obviously, the most immediate plan was for him to bat in the middle order for Australia in this Test series against India.
“And when you look at that, if they’re going to keep him in, they couldn’t really afford to keep Travis Head in either because then they would have five left-handers in their top seven.”
Ponting said keeping Head in the team at Peter Handscomb’s expense would have played into the hands of India’s star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
“The other side of it is that Travis’ record outside of Australia and on the subcontinent is nowhere near as good,” Ponting said.
“So when you put all those pieces together, I actually wasn’t that surprised … there’s been a bit of an uproar here in Australia about ‘how could the selectors do this’?
“I know (Renshaw) was out first ball today, I’ll forgive him of that – the other thing to keep in mind is they’ve been over here for what is just about a week now, so they’ve done a lot of training, the coaches and selectors would’ve kept an eye on training and watched who was coping with the spin better than others.”
– with Ed Bourke, NCA Newswire
