Watch: Mohammed Siraj strikes first ball, India review to send in-form Usman Khawaja back
Watch: Mohammed Siraj trapped Usman Khawaja leg-before with the first ball of the second over of the 2022/23 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India left out Shubman Gill from their first Test match on home soil after almost a year, handing out a Test cap to Suryakumar Yadav. Their other debutant was wicketkeeper KS Bharat.
Australia, on the other hand, included Scott Boland, who is yet to play outside home soil, and uncapped off-spinner Todd Murphy. They also raised a few eyebrows by leaving out the in-form Travis Head.
Mohammed Shami bowled the first over of the series, and David Warner pushed one off his feet to get a single off the second ball. Two balls later, Khawaja got off the mark as well.
Since his return to the Australian Test XI, Khawaja has amassed 1,276 runs in 13 Test matches at 75.05, with five hundreds. That was the challenge Siraj was up against.
He began with the right-hander’s outswinger that pitched on leg stump and hit Khawaja on the pad. The Indian team appealed, but Nitin Menon ruled Khawaja not out. After a prolonged discussion, Rohit Sharma reviewed.
Replays reviewed the perfection of the ball. Had it pitched even slightly more to the left, it would have been outside leg. Had it held its line, it would have hit Khawaja’s bat. Had it swung any more than it did, it would have missed leg-stump – and Khawaja would have survived on umpire’s call.
Shami sent Warner’s stump cartwheeling in the next over, reducing Australia to 2-2. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith then led the recovery. At the time of writing, Australia are 69-2, with Labuschagne on 42 and Smith on 17.
