India has taken the lead in the four-match Board-Gavaskar Test series with a dominant victory over Australia in the first match, held in Nagpur. India won the match by an innings and 132 runs, after scoring 400 runs in the first innings, with Captain Rohit Sharma scoring a century and Akshar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja scoring half-centuries. In response, Australia was only able to score 177 runs in their first innings.
In the second innings, Australia's batting was weak, with the team only able to score 91 runs in 32.3 overs. Steve Smith remained unbeaten with 25 runs, but the rest of the team struggled to make any impact. In contrast, India's Ravichandran Ashwin took five wickets, while Jadeja and Mohammed Shami took two wickets each. The match ended two overs early with Jadeja dismissing Smith, only for it to be called a no ball. Shami then dismissed Scott Boland in the next over to secure the victory for India.
The third day saw Akshar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja continue their strong performance, with Shami also making a significant contribution with 37 runs. Despite Todd Murphy taking seven wickets for Australia on his debut, the team was unable to match India's strong batting performance.
This victory for India sets the tone for the rest of the series and will be a confidence boost for the team as they look to continue their dominance in the coming matches. Australia will need to improve their performance if they hope to level the series and challenge India's dominance.
