IND vs AUS 2022-23, 1st Test: Axar's fightback overshadows Murphy's brilliant 7-for; India leads by 223

Indian all-rounder Axar Patel struck a determined 84. At the same time, Mohammed Shami slapped a delightful 37 as the hosts took massive 223-run first-innings lead by posting 400 versus Australia on Day 3 of the opening Test at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday. Axar put his head down and let Shami attack in the 52-run ninth-wicket partnership, helping India out bat Australia on a track that the visiting media alleged was "doctored".

India resumed the day at the overnight score of 321/7, with Ravindra Jadeja (70) and Axar at the crease. Jadeja failed to last long as he shouldered arms to a Murphy delivery, fired in from an angle and collided with the stumps. The pitch has mostly stayed the same, and it lasts a lagging turner, where any batter prepared to scratch it out will get developments.

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Lunch was taken as the Indian innings terminated. Shami, dropped on six by Scott Boland at long-on off veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon, chose to cast a quick counter-attack on the opposition's best bowler, the debuting off-spinner Todd Murphy (7/124). He hit the bespectacled off-spinner for three sixes -- a slog sweep over mid-wicket, a flat six over long-off and a monstrous shot over long-on -- apart from a couple of fours during his 47-ball visit.

Adding 50-plus runs in just over an hour (65 minutes) was laudable, and Patel, on his part, gave Shami the bulk of the strike. If Australia had any option of enveloping it up, Boland's drop was costly as Shami paid it dearly. While Murphy has been exceptional on debut, Lyon's (1/126) implementation has been disappointing, to say the least, as his bowling lacked the edge.

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Almost all the Indian batters found defending the veteran off-spinner off the back foot effortless. Once Shami was sent back, going for his fourth six off Murphy, Patel opted to attack and lofted the debutant directly into the sightscreen for his maiden six. His and India's innings ended when rival skipper-cum-pacer Pat Cummins hit his timber.

(With inputs from PTI)