Marnus Labuschagne's Hundred puts Australia on top on Day 1

 

Pic Credit: Cricket Australia

With the series levelled at 1-1 following the draw of the Third Test,India took on Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane for the fourth and final test of the Border-Gavasakar Trophy.

Australia made one change as Will Pucovski who got injured on the final day of the 3rd test was replaced by Marcus Harris. As for India there were four forced changes as Mayank Agarwal, Washington Sundar,T Natarajan and Shardul Thakur all came in place of Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah.

As seen in the series,India were once again to get the Aussie openers quickly. David Warner was edged out at the end of the very first over as Mohammed Siraj gave India an ideal start. Shardul Thakur then got the better of Marcus Harris as the left handed tried to flick the ball on the offside only to find Washington Sundar.

Labuschagne and Smith then started off where they left from the previous test. Their partnership of 70 runs was looking deadly once again and were on the verge of another mammoth partnership but Washington Sundar had other ideas.

He picked up his very first test wicket in the form of Smith.He tried to flick the ball over towards the short mid wicket region but was not able to get the timing he needed and found Rohit Sharma who took a great low catch to send him back to the pavilion.

With the score of 87/3 now, India were not able to take advantage of the momentum they had. Matthew Wade and Marnus Labuschagne continued on to steer the ship towards safety. Labuschagne was dropped by Skipper Ajinkya Rahane at the score of 37 and the total score at 93/3. After that drop catch Nandeep Saini was Substituted due to a groin injury.

Labuschagne would take full use of that drop catch and went on to complete his Hundred as Wade kept on supporting him from the other end.

T Natarajan would have a great debut though as he got the Wickets of Wade and Labuschagne at crucial time. Both tried to play losely shot at wrong times and were dismissed for the score of 45 and 108 respectively.

Captain Tim Paine and Cameron Green then played out the rest of the day as Australia finished with the score of 274/5 in 87 overs with Paine at 38 and Green at 28. Australia would be hopping for a to cross the 400 run mark tomorrow whereas India would be looking to bundle them out under 350.