Brisbane, Jan 15 (IANS) Marnus Labuschagne scored yet another half century in the ongoing Test series as he helped Australia reach 153/3 at the end of the second session on Day One of the fourth and final Test against India at The Gabba.
At Tea, Australia were 153/3 with Labuschagne and Matthew Wade at the crease on 73* and 27* respectively.
Resuming at 65/2, both Steve Smith and Labuschagne scored freely and collected boundaries whenever the Indian bowlers erred in their line and lengths.
However, just when Australia looked to be in control, debutant off-spinner Washington Sundar claimed the big wicket of Smith at his individual score of 36, getting the prolific batsman caught at short mid-wicket by Rohit Sharma.
India could’ve got their fourth wicket soon after that had skipper Ajinkya Rahane not dropped the catch of Labuschagne at gully against Navdeep Saini.
Wade, who came to bat after the fall of Smith’s wicket, started off slowly but once he got set, the left-handed batsman stitched a brilliant partnership with Labuschagne. The pair have added 67 runs so far and have given Australia a hope of setting a big first-innings score.
Earlier, the hosts didn’t get off to a good start after electing to bat as both David Warner and Marcus Harris went back to the dressing room with just 17 runs on the scoreboard.
Warner was the first wicket to fall as he got caught in the slips in the very first over of the innings bowled by Mohammed Siraj. Sharma took a good, low catch at second slip to send the left-handed batsman back in the Australian dressing room at his individual score of just 1.
Harris, playing his first match of the series as he replaced injured Will Pucovski, then tried to stitch a partnership with Labuschagne but got out caught on the first ball bowled by Shardul Thakur in the ninth over. At his individual score of 5, Harris was caught as square leg by Washington Sundar.
Brief score: Australia 153/3 after 54 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 73*; Steve Smith 36; Mohammed Siraj 1/25)
–IANS
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