David Warner takes Australia to a flying start despite losing wicket

David Warner is in full flow against India.

Australia made full use of the new ball and the toss they won with David Warnertearing into Indian bowling attack here at Adelaide Oval on Day 1 in the first Test of the three match Border-Gavaskar trophy. Warner was particularly severe against speedster Varun Aaron who went for runs as he bowled full length.

If there were any blues in the Australian camp following the death of Phil Hughes, they were not seen on the field at least. Michael Clarke, who seemed most affected following Hughes’s tragic death after he was struck by a bouncer last month, decided to take to the field even though there were reports that he may skip the first Test following a hamstring injury.

MS Dhoni decided to play safe and allowed Virat Kohli to lead as Dhoni is still recuperating. Wriddhiman Saha will keep wickets in place of Dhoni in this match. Karn Sharma made his debut as well, with Kohli opting to choose him over the experienced R Ashwin and one-day specialist Ravindra Jadeja.

After just 5 overs Australia had raced to 45 and that was mainly thanks to David Warner. First short ball came in the fourth over. Warner chose not to play it. But when the next one came, he hammered it to a boundary, an indication that the Aussies were not going to be scared of short stuff. India decided to bowl round the wicket to Warner, in a bid to cramp the free hitting Warner, but the move didn’t pay dividends as bowlers sprayed deliveries wide of the off stump.

It was Ishant Sharma’s introduction in the sixth over that brought sanity to the proceedings. He bowled a maiden over first up to David Warner and then followed it up with Chris Rogers who was settling down to play second fiddle to attacking Warner. Bowling round the wicket and full length, Ishant was attacking the stumps all the time and was rewarded in his second over. He induced an edge off Rogers and Shikhar Dhawan made no mistake in the second slip. Next man in Shane Watson was given a nasty welcome with Ishant bowling a well directed bouncer at him. Watson made no attempt of going at it.