Hello, good morning and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket blog and updates of the fourth and final Test between India and Australia. This is Suvajit Mustafi, and I will be bringing you all the live cricket scores and posts from the series-decider, being played at the picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala — which is now India’s 27th Test venue. The big news on Day One morning was again centred around Virat Kohli. He was ruled out of the final Test due to the shoulder injury he sustained on Day One of the Ranchi Test. Thus Ajinkya Rahane walked out for toss and he became India’s 33rd Test captain. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia, 4th Test at Dharamsala
On a placid batting track, Australia elected to bat and India went in with the five-bowler combination. Australia made a strong start scoring 131 runs in the first session, losing only Matt Renshaw’s wicket. Debutant Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav helped India stage a strong fightback. Kuldeep, the first Chinaman to play Test (men’s) for India, claimed a four-for that helped India skittle-out Australia for 300. Australia were boosted to a respectable total thanks to Steven Smith’s 20th Test hundred, which was his third of this series. He also became the first Australian skipper to be dismissed for Nelson (111). Also, poor catching and substandard fielding from the hosts helped the visitors.
David Warner registered his first fifty of this tour, and so did wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade. India batted an over before stumps and played it maiden. There will be good assistance for Australian seamers early on Day Two, and cracks there on the surface, even spinners will get the aid. Probably an absence of a wrist spinner may hurt them, so it would not be surprising if we get to see Steven Smith or David Warner bowling.
Teams:
India: KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav
Australia: David Warner, Matthew Renshaw, Steven Smith (c), Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Steven O’ Keefe, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
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