The Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad has served up the most batting-friendly pitch in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 so far, and Australia won a crucial toss to put on a solid show. Led by the tranquil Usman Khawaja, the visitors were able to grind India out in the first session after the hosts wasted the new ball by spraying it all over the place.
Head and Usman Khawaja punished India’s waywardness and brought up the highest opening partnership for Australia in the series. With little turn on offer, R Ashwin bowled tight lines and mixed his pace up in a bid to build pressure and elicit a false shot as a result.
With the flow of runs being stemmed, Head tried to take on Ashwin but ended up toe-edging a loft to mid on. One brought two as Mohammad Shami was brought in for a second spell and struck with his second ball, having Marnus Labuschagne chopping on.
Ashwin and Shami bowled six maiden overs between them to contain the runs in the second hour as India clawed back into the contest.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>A strong start for the tourists in Ahmedabad 👀<br><br>Follow <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/INDvAUS?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#INDvAUS</a> live: <a href=”https://t.co/sRDvhMEA14″>https://t.co/sRDvhMEA14</a><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WTC23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WTC23</a> <a href=”https://t.co/3NTpK5RLAM”>pic.twitter.com/3NTpK5RLAM</a></p>— ICC (@ICC) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ICC/status/1633696160572657665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 9, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
