Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami picked up a wicket each as Australia reached 75 for two at lunch on the first day of the fourth and final cricket Test here on Thursday.
At lunch, opener Usman Khawaja (27 not out) and captain Steve Smith (2 not out) were at the crease. Khawaja and Travis Head (32) got the visitors off to a good start by adding 61 runs for the first wicket.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami, however, tried to get India back by dismissing Head and Marnus Labuschagne (03) in quick succession. Head looked in good touch in the first hour but then returned to the pavilion after playing bad shots.
He played a shot in the air without getting close to Ashwin’s ball but gave a simple catch to Ravindra Jadeja at mid-on. Earlier, Head was given a life on a personal score of seven when wicketkeeper Shrikar Bharat dropped a simple catch off Umesh Yadav.
Umesh, however, bowled a very loose delivery, which Head took advantage of to hit six of his seven fours. Labushen also tried to play with extra caution and played Shami’s low ball on the wickets. Bharat would like to forget the first session where he was troubled by uneven bounce at both ends of the wicket. He found it difficult to catch the low ball at one end and dropped a simple catch in addition to conceding eight runs by the bye.
