Right before the start of day 2 between India and Australia at VCA Stadium, Nagpur, Matt Renshaw was taken for scans for a knee injury during warm-up on 10 February 2023. It is a major blow for the visitors as Australia could only manage 177 runs in the first innings.
Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bat first. Warner and Usman Khawaja got out cheaply by Shami and Siraj respectively. Marnus Labuschagne and Smith added 82 runs for the 3rd wicket before the Indian spinners especially Ravindra Jadeja created havoc picking 5 wickets and skittling out visitors cheaply.
Rohit Sharma’s quickfire knock helped India end day 1 in a strong position at 77 for 1 with KL Rahul being the only batter dismissed for 20. KL and Rohit added 76 runs for the opening wicket.
Matt Renshaw was included in the playing XI and was trapped LBW off the very first delivery by Ravindra Jadeja. Australia has been dealt with major injury issues as Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green and Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the Test match due to injuries.
Australia got a huge blow with Matt Renshaw’s injury
Marnus Labuschagne was the top scorer for Australia in the first inning with 49. “If they’re going to keep him in, they couldn’t really afford to keep Travis Head in either, because they would’ve had five left-handers in their top seven, which probably would’ve played into Ravi Ashwin’s hands. Ashwin loves, as we know, bowling to left-handers.”
Travis Head was not included in the playing XI as Peter Handscomb replaced him for the first Test at Nagpur. Matt Renshaw played during the 3rd Test match against South Africa last year.
The debutant Todd Murphy showed great skills getting rid of R Ashwin after a solid partnership for the 2nd wicket. He then dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara with a simple catch to Scott Boland at mid-off. Murphy took his 3rd wicket and kept the pressure on Indian batters. India went into the lunch break at 151 for 3.
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