Debutant spinner Kuldeep Yadav led a brilliant Indian fightback as the hosts dismissed Australia for 300 on the first day of the fourth Test in Dharamsala.
Australia were scoring rapidly and went to lunch at 131/1. But Yadav took four wickets to peg Australia back even as captain Steve Smith held fort with another century.
Smith fell for 111 just before tea off the bowling of R Ashwin to leave India in control at 208/6 at tea. Matthew Wade made a fighting 57 to push Australia to 300.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They lost Renshaw (1) cheaply before captain Smith and Warner strengthened the innings. The series is locked 1-1.
The fourth and deciding Test also marked Ajinkya Rahane as India’s 33rd Test captain after injured Virat Kohli was ruled out of the match against Australia. Kohli suffered a shoulder injury while fielding in the Ranchi Test match. Besides, Left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav made his debut as India went back to five bowler theory with Bhuvneshwar Kumar replacing Ishant Sharma.
On Friday Kohli had said that he will only play he is hundred percent fit but had admitted that there is every chance of the injury being aggravated during fielding.
The Indian skipper missed a Test after playing 54 matches in the longest format at a stretch. It started with a Test match against West Indies in Mumbai back in November, 2011.
(With PTI inputs)
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