Twitter Reactions: Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja shine as hosts end second day on high note

The first day of the first Test between India and Australia witnessed Indian bowlers dominate as the two sides met at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. Ravindra Jadeja’s five-wicket haul and Ravichandran Ashwin’s three-wicket haul, after pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami provided their side with the early breakthroughs, handed India the upper hand over the visitors.

Having dismissed Australia for 177 in their first innings, India ended the first day at 77/1. Todd Murphy dismissed KL Rahul towards the end of the first day’s play, thus Rohit Sharma and Ashwin started the proceedings with the bat on the second day. The duo put up a 42-run stand before Murphy broke their partnership by dismissing the Indian all-rounder.

While Rohit Sharma kept going with the bat on one end, he fell short of batters to form a good partnership with. After Ashwin’s wicket, Cheteshwar Pujara joined the Indian skipper but was dismissed scoring mere seven runs off 14 deliveries. Former India skipper Virat Kohli too couldn’t contribute much and was sent packing for a 26-ball 12.

Australian debutant Murphy was at his best and stunned the Indian dugout by picking up his maiden five-wicket haul in his first-ever international outing in the format. After dismissing Rahul on the first day, he added four more wickets under his belt, proving as a threat to the hosts. While Murphy succeeded at picking wickets at regular intervals, the Indian skipper led India’s charge with the bat.

Ravindra Jadeja joined Rohit on the crease after Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal and the duo resurrected India’s innings. Rohit managed to play a composed knock and brought up a brilliant century, his first as India’s Test skipper, and became the fourth captain in the world to register a century across all formats of the game after Tillakaratne Dilshan, Faf du Plessis, and Babar Azam.

Rohit’s blitzkrieg was put to an end by Australian skipper Pat Cummins as he sent the off-stump cartwheeling. After Rohit’s dismissal, Jadeja showcased some fine efforts with the bat and scored a comprehensive half-century. Srikar Bharat joined Jadeja after Rohit walked back, but could chip in with only eight runs as he became Todd Murphy’s fifth victim.

After losing multiple wickets, Jadeja and Axar Patel joined hands to build the innings back and keep India on track. Indian batters managed to bat throughout the day, and while Rohit got to his century, Jadeja and Axar ended up amassing their respective half-centuries while putting up an unbroken 81-run stand. The spin-bowling all-rounders remained unbeaten at the end of the second day’s play as India finished at 321/7 with a lead of 144 runs.

Here's how Twitter reacted: