An unbeaten 48-run partnership at lunch between Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the ship for Australia after they lost both ope...
An unbeaten 48-run partnership at lunch between Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the ship for Australia after they lost both openers cheaply on day one of the fourth Test against India on Friday.
After Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and chose to bat, Smith and Labuschagne settled themselves on a good batting wicket following the early dismissals of David Warner and Marcus Harris.
Smith was not out on 30 and Labuschagne 19 as the home side ended the first session on 65/2.
With the four-Test series locked at 1-1, India went into the decider Test as massive underdogs following the loss of four players from the third game, which finished on Monday in Sydney.
Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (abdomen), off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (back), batsman Hanuma Vihari (hamstring) and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (broken thumb) were all ruled out.
T Natarajan and Washington Sundar made their debuts while there were also recalls for Mayank Agarwal and Shardul Thakur.
The entire Indian bowling attack has only nine caps between them, with Mohammad Siraj, playing his third Test, the most experienced.
The bowlers in this India XI who had bowled the most deliveries bowled in Tests before Brisbane:
1. Mohammed Siraj
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Navdeep Saini
By contrast, Australia only made one change, with Harris coming in for Will...
