IND vs AUS 1st Test match review: “You always have a plan until you are punched in the face”. Australia found this the hard way as they slumped to an embarrassing loss by an innings and 132 runs in the first test of the 4-match Border-Gavaskar series against a rampant India. After winning a seemingly crucial toss, Australia stumbled to 177, with Jadeja marking his return to the longest format with a fifer.

In return, splendid knocks from skipper Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and a breezy cameo from Mohammed Shami took India to a commanding 400 with a seemingly impenetrable 223-run lead. Australia were never really in the game from the moment Khawaja was dismissed. Ashwin and Jadeja broke the back of the Aussie batting and Shami finished the final rites of the game.

Here are the talking points of the IND vs AUS 1st Test match, which was a one-sided game-

1. Pitch talk turns immature in IND Vs AUS

Before the game, all talk was about the pitch and how the media portrayed it to be an absolute minefield with selective watering leading Australian media to call it “pitch doctoring”. But it was a very different story when the game began and progressed. No doubt the pitch was a difficult one to bat on, but it was same for both the sides.

The likes of Labuschagne and Smith from Australia and Rohit, Jadeja and Axar from India displayed that if you apply yourself on the surface for a while, there were runs to be had and also value for your shots. Add to that if one side scores 400 and the other is not able to score runs at all, then it’s not about the pitch, it’s about the level of skill on show. And the batting of the home side was enough to shut the mouths of the seemingly loud critics of the pitch.

2. Rohit leads the way

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma entered the series with a spate of questions about his ability as a skipper and with questions on his readiness for the occasion, having missed out 8 of the last 10 tests and 3 of the last 5 as captain. His form in tests was also a little edgy and it felt like he was a man who had everything to lose of things didn’t go his way. But the skipper led from the front both on the field as well as with the bat. On the field, he was proactive with his plans for each batsman and shuffled his bowlers accordingly. But it was with the bat that he truly stole the show.

He was one of the only batsman who approached his innings with a sense of normalcy in a match where everyone seemed to be playing on the side of chaos. He batted with such authority that it genuinely felt that he was batting on a different wicket altogether. It needed something special to dismiss him because this was a memorable knock from a man who seems to have that second more than the rest.

3. Murphy shines on debut

When it was revealed that uncapped spinner Todd Murphy was going to make his debut in this test, there were a lot of questions about the fact that the Aussies decided to go with a wildcard option rather than the likes of Agar and Swepson who had experience in these conditions before. But by the end of the game, the young Aussie did his reputation a world of good by taking 7 wickets on debut and bowled better than his senior partner and mentor Nathan Lyon.

Murphy read the conditions perfectly and bowled a very tight line, keeping the ball on the stumps and letting his natural variations do the work for him. He was bowling with control and was miserly throughout his time with the ball. While some wickets were fortunate and of poor deliveries, he deserved a bit of good fortune for the excellent performance he put in. For one day, Lyon was the apprentice and Murphy was the master.

4. Jadeja returns in style with a great performance in IND Vs AUS

The last time Ravindra Jadeja played in a test match, he scored a century. And on his return to the longest format after a prolonged absence, it felt like he was never away at all. He was phenomenal in all departments throughout the course of the test match. With the ball in the first innings, he bought the match back in India’s favour by removing the set Marnus Labuschagne, who was batting very comfortably on 49 and was threatening to take the game away from the hosts.

He then produced an absolute Jaffa to remove Steve Smith, which took them to a position of strength. Even with the bat he was a class apart, building a partnership with Rohit and Axar playing different roles in both. He was the aggressor with Rohit and the anchor with Axar, which meant that India played to the situation at all times. An in-form Jadeja is an integral part of this Indian side and this performance just showed why.

5. Australia’s meek surrender

Australia entered this tour making all the right noises. They had two seemingly successful tours of the subcontinent. They prepared for spinning pitches on a specially curated pitch in Sydney, and then had a rigorous training camp in Bengaluru where the conditions were catered to their choice. They even managed to get in a net bowler who resembles Indian ace R Ashwin in his manner of bowling. But inspite of all this, they were hammered and battered in this test. Warner and Khawaja were born dismissed cheaply.

They erred in their team selection by picking Renshaw over Travis Head, who currently is the 4th ranked test batsman. Renshaw barely made an impact in the test, and was out for most of the Australian bowling due to an injury. The bowling bar Todd Murphy never looked like threatening the Indians and the less said about their second innings batting the better. While they have time to turn things around, they are a much better team than this defeat suggested. They just didn’t turn up on the day when required.