The much-anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 between India and Australia gets underway on Thursday, February 9 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. It will be the final series for both teams in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, determining the top two teams for the final, which will take place on June 8 at the Oval in England.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. The team led by Pat Cummins made two lineup changes, replacing Travis Head and Josh Hazlewood with Peter Handscomb and debutant spinner Todd Murphy. Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper-batsman KS Bharat made their Team India debuts, while star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja returned to the playing XI following an injury.
Virat Kohli dropped Steve Smith’s catch off the bowling of Axar Patel during the 16th over of Australia’s innings. Smith attempted the drive, but it took a thick outside edge and sailed to Virat’s right side. The former India captain, who was stationed at the first slip, was slow to react. If Virat had managed to take the catch, India would have taken Smith’s wicket.
Virat Kohli leaves an easy catch:
Currently:
Virat Kohli is The Worst and The Most Overrated Fielder of Team India https://t.co/5ZMfrk2hMv
— Immy|| 🇮🇳 (@TotallyImro45) February 9, 2023
Steve Smith enjoys batting in India, having scored 660 runs at an average of 60 in six Test matches, including three centuries and a half-century. With 499 runs at an average of 71.29 on their previous tour, the right-handed batsman was the highest run-scorer. In the longer format, Smith has an incredible record against India, scoring 1742 runs from 14 matches at an average of 72.58.
Australia was dismissed for 177 runs in their first innings with Marnus Labuschangne top scoring for them and for India the comeback Ravindra Jadeja took five wickets for the hosts.
PLAYING XI
India: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Scott Boland
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