Before the second Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that began on Saturday, Steve Smith averaged 113.50 at the venue. He had never been dismissed for a duck in the first innings of a Test in his career either.
And, like he did in the first Test of the series in Adelaide, Ashwin Ravichandran dismissed Australia’s star batsman cheaply and set off on a celebration. This time, one better too. After scoring one run in the first innings at Adelaide Oval, Smith failed to get off the mark on Boxing Day at his favourite venue.
Ashwin, coming on to bowl early and extracting spin and bounce, had Smith caught at leg slip by Cheteshwar Pujara.
Ashwin’s wicket was the highlight of a good morning for India at MCG as the visitors picked up three early wickets.
Australian captain Tim Paine won the toss and elected to bat in the second Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The visitors made four changes to the team that was beaten by eight wickets in the opening Test at Adelaide, where they were skittled for 36 in their second innings.
Opener Prithvi Shaw was dropped with Shubman Gill replacing him to make his debut, while Mohammad Siraj also earns a first cap in place of injured pace spearhead Mohammed Shami.
Rishabh Pant takes over from Wriddhiman Saha as wicketkeeper while experienced allrounder Ravindra Jadeja is back from injury to strengthen their bowling attack.
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