It was a sumptuous start to day 1 of the Test match between India and Australia as the hosts found them comfortably stationed in the driver’s seat, thanks to a fifer for Ravindra Jadeja backed by Ashwin’s three-fer, that also saw him becoming the first off-spinner in Indian history to claim 450 Test wickets.
Team India will be eyeing another cracking series win after bagging the BGT a staggering three out of three times in the last three editions of the contest. However, there were a few analysts from Australia believing the fact that there has been some serious tinkering with the pitch that will hand over the advantage to India.
However, keeping all the controversies aside, this is going to be a contest of epic proportions, especially with the battle of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. Steve Smith featured on day one of the contest but his numbers weren’t decent enough despite a fine start.
Talking ahead of the day’s play, Smith had a lot to talk about his contest with King Kohli, adding, ‘No, I don’t think so. I’m not sure whether he thinks there is or not. I’m not entirely sure that I certainly feel like. We just go out and play the game and try and do the best for our team. Yeah, hopefully, score some runs along the way to help us have success. That’s the main goal for me. I don’t feel like I’m batting against anyone or anything like that and trying to compare myself to any other batters. I just wanna go out there and do my job and hopefully help the team have success.”
Talking to Hindustan Times Online, Smith further added, “I think the way he’s able to take the bowlers on, really put them under pressure. I think that’s a huge strength of his. He scored runs all around the world. His ability is to score both sides of the wicket. He’s patient when he needs to be and he’s been an amazing player for a very long time in all formats of the game. So, hopefully for us, this series, he doesn’t score too many. But you know, when he gets going, he is one of the best batters to watch in the world.”
