Umesh Yadav stifles Australia on spin-conducive Pune track

Opening partner David Warner (38) looked in good nick until he chopped on to give Umesh Yadav the first of his four wickets in the day. But an inspired knock by opener Matt Renshaw (68) and later by tail-ender Mitchell Starc (56 not out) saw the visitors earn parity.

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy could not have started on a better note than the topsy-turvy first day of the Pune Test, with both India and Australia ending the day evenly poised.

Pune: India had the flawless opportunity to steal a march on Australia, half-way through the first session of Day 1 of the Pune Test, on Thursday, when spinner Jayant Yadav bowled opener David Warner round the stumps. Where the Brits went into siege mode when the turning ball beat their push, the Aussies – Renshaw in particular – smiled toothpaste-ad smiles and settled to face the next ball.

Former Australia captains Allan Border and Michael Clarke were the first ones to voice their opinions against Renshaw’s actions followed by a few other cricketers as well.

It was a day of two fast bowlers on a pitch tailor-made for Indian spinners.

For India, the bulk of the bowling was done by their spin trump card Ashwin, who opened the attack with Ishant Sharma.

But some lusty hitting from Mitch Starc (57 not out) ensured that Australia reached a competitive 9/257 on a cracked and crumbling wicket that spinning great Shane Warne had likened to “a day eight pitch” before play. India’s last series defeat was in the season 2014-15 when they went to Australia and were beaten 0-2. Ironically, the breakthrough for India came from their pacer.

Warner and Renshaw, though beaten on numerous occasions by the turn and bounce off the pitch, were able to put loose balls away during their partnership before Kohli made a decision to bring on his other paceman, Umesh Yadav. Australia crawled to 200 as they kept tossing wickets. But he was soon dismissed as umpire Nigel Llong adjudged him lbw off Jadeja’s delivery.

For the first time in history, the Australian selectors have picked a squad comprising five spinners for an Asian tour and the sight of a dry Pune pitch means this is the ideal time to put the theory into practice. Starc combined with Josh Hazlewood for an unbeaten 51-run partnership in the last wicket, which propelled Australia to 256-9 at the end of first day.