India-Australia
R Ashwin takes five wickets as India beat Australia by an innings and 132 runs in series opener
Nagpur: Veteran Indian spinner R Ashwin put up a dominant performance as he picked up five wickets to help the homeside beat Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the opening Test match of the series here on Saturday.
A heroic show by the Indian spinners helped the visitors being all out for 91 runs in their second innings.
Steven Smith remained the top scorer for the Aussie side with ihis 25.
In his unbeaten knock, he smashed two boundaries and a six.
The Australian batting lineup completely looked helpless with David Warner (10) and Alex Carey (10) being the other two batsmen to touch the double figure mark.
India's tail end wagged long to frustrate Australia, despite Todd Murphy's seven+wicket haul, as they added 78 runs, resulting in India taking a 223 runs lead on Day 3 of the first Test of Border-Gavaskar series here on Saturday.
Murphy looked the ominous offspinner to wrap India's first innings early on. He succeeded in getting an early breakthrough by cleaning up Ravindra Jadeja for 70.
But Mohammed Shami and overnight batsman Axar Patel (84) dominated the proceedings, adding 52-run stand.
Shami hammered three glorious sixes and two boundaries in his exciting 37 runs knock, after he got a reprieve from Scott Boland dropped him off Nathan Lyon.
This ensured India races past 200 runs mark.
Finally Shami fell trying to smash Murphy out of the park for his fourth six.
The top edged shot was held by keeper Alex Carey running across.
The last wicket pair added 20 crucial runs as Mohammad Siraj held one end up with tight defence, while Axar eyed for his maiden Test century.
Axar was eventually cleaned up by Pat Cummins with India folding up at 400.
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