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Kuhn’s the Man: Spinner sparks Indian collapse with maiden five-for before Khawaja steers Australia to lead

Admin March 01, 2023

Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis might be the resident ‘special Ks’ of Australian sport – but for the Test team on Day 1 in Indore, it was two different Ks who delivered the tourists far and away their best day of a difficult tour of India.

First it was Matt Kuhnemann who ripped through the Indian batting line-up to finish with a maiden five-wicket haul in just his second Test as the hosts crumbled to 109 all out; then it was Usman Khawaja with a second elegant half-century of the series to steer Australia to an already ominous first-innings lead.

“Really special to take wickets out there with the team,” Kuhnemann said after his best haul in first-class cricket.

“It is a really good day for our team in general with the bowlers going really well and the batters stepping up as well and doing a good job for us. 

“It’s really cool, but there’s a long way to go in this game.”

Four wickets from Ravindra Jadeja keep India in the game, but an uncharacteristically loose performance from spin partner Ravichandran Ashwin allowed Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne to steer Australia to a 47-run lead at stumps, with six wickets in hand.

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Kuhnemann reaped the rewards of a pitch which took substantial turn from the opening overs, and ensured Australia didn’t pay full price for a remarkable start to the Test which saw acting captain Steve Smith twice opt not to review appeals against Rohit Sharma that would have had the Indian captain out without scoring.

Khawaja, meanwhile, was the only batter all day to truly tame the surface, blunting Ashwin and Jadeja with a meticulous defence and the odd attacking sweep, with his first mistake taking on deep fielder Shubman Gill for 60. With runs so hard to come by throughout the day, the innings was already worth its weight in gold.

After Rohit and Shubman Gill, recalled for KL Rahul, recovered from that chaotic opening over to put on 26 runs in the first five overs, it took Kuhnemann just six balls to strike; luring Rohit down the pitch, the ball took vicious turn past his outside edge to present Alex Carey with the simplest of stumpings.

When the Queenslander found Gill’s outside edge for a straightforward Smitch catch at slip, India were 2/34 and suddenly in trouble.

Their woes deepened when Nathan Lyon scythed through Cheteshwar Pujara with a near-unplayable ball that pitch outside off and spun all the way into leg stump.

So often a thorn in Australia’s side, Jadeja mustered just four, immediately following an LBW reprieve after a successful review by chipping Lyon straight to cover.

The catcher? Kuhnemann, of course.

Only added to the squad midway through the series, the 26-year old could do no wrong, with Shreyas Iyer dragging one of his more innocuous deliveries back onto his own stumps to leave India 5/44 and in dire straits.

Having threatened a return to form in the first two Tests, Virat Kohli attempted to turn the tide with some crisp strokeplay, the veteran’s footwork reminiscent of his brilliant best as he pounced on anything loose from Lyon and Kuhnemann.

There’s a reason, though, Australia opted to once again play three spinners; introduced into the attack, Todd Murphy immediately looked far more troubling for the Indian maestro.

Pinning him down with unyielding accuracy more than any demons from the pitch, he resoundingly won a battle of patience with Kohli, who finally erred as a faster Murphy offering kept a touch low, beat his attempted flick to leg and struck him plumb in front.

A desperate review would prove fruitless; with Kohli’s rescue act cut short at 22, normal service swiftly resumed. If you needed a sign Australia’s luck had turned, it came when an LBW shout against KS Bharat was this time sent upstairs by Smith, finding the ball to be crashing into leg stump and confirming yet another poor decision from umpire Nitin Menon on a rough day.

7/84 at lunch, India still had the dangerous low-order pair of Ashwin and Axar Patel to salvage the innings. Ashwin, though, became Kuhnemann’s fourth scalp after a sharp turner scraped his outside edge through to Carey; when Umesh Yadav’s happy hitting ended with another LBW after two sixes and 17 runs, the Queenslander had a well-deserved five.

The Aussies didn’t even need to get past Patel, their nemesis with two half-centuries in his only two innings this series; number eleven Mohammed Siraj failing to understand the urgency of giving his partner the strike until it was too late, comfortably run out at the non-striker’s end.

As expected, Travis Head came out all guns blazing in response, but would last just six balls for 9 before Jadeja trapped him in front, needing the DRS to confirm the wicket after a Menon-esque howler from fellow umpire Joel Wilson.

From there, though, it was all Australia, as Khawaja and Labuschagne put together the visitors’ most fruitful stand of the series, 96, to take the visitors within a run of India’s opening total.

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From the moment the latter earned a reprieve after dragging Jadeja on before he’d troubled the scorers when the star spinner was revealed to have overstepped – his third such error for the series – Labuschagne looked in command, typifying Australia’s change of approach after their collapse in Delhi to play straight, watch the ball closely and dispatch anything loose.

Jadeja fought on to finish with all four Australian wickets to fall, including skittling Labuschagne at last with a well-disguised arm ball, but he may also have indirectly denied Ashwin a wicket of his own.

Perhaps in desperation to atone for his no-ball blunder, Jadeja twice convinced Rohit to review ambitious LBW shouts on Khawaja, burning reviews both times; the captain then failed to heed Ashwin’s plea for his own LBW against Labuschagne not long after, only to find it would have been successful had he headed upstairs.

The late flurry of wickets, with Smith caught behind for 26, left it to Peter Handscomb and Cameron Green to negotiate the final overs.

But secure at 4/156 at stumps, 47 in front and on a wicket likely to get worse before it gets better, not even that could dampen the visitors’ spirits at the close, having enjoyed one of their best days on the subcontinent in many a year.


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