4th Test: Natarajan bags 2 on debut, Labuschagne scores ton as Australia 274/5 at stumps on Day 1

Marnus Labuschagne on Friday once again lived a charmed life as he went on to score a brilliant hundred to help Australia have a slight edge over India on Day One of the fourth and final Test at The GabbaAt Stumps Australia reached 2745 after 87 overs with skipper Tim Paine and Cameron Green remaining unbeaten at 38 and 28 respectivelyFor the hosts Labuschagne starred with the bat scoring 108 with the help of nine fours while Matthew Wade and Steve Smith also made notable contributions of 45 and 36 respectivelyEarlier electing to bat the hosts didnt get off to a good start as both David Warner and Marcus Harris went back to the dressing room with just 17 runs on the scoreboard against a very inexperienced Indian bowling lineupWarner was the first wicket to fall as he got caught in the slips in the very first over of the innings bowled by Mohammed Siraj Rohit Sharma took a good low catch at second slip to send the lefthanded batsman back in the Australian dressing room at his individual score of just 1Harris playing his first match of the series as he replaced injured Will Pucovski then tried to stitch a partnership with Labuschagne but got out on the first ball bowled by Shardul Thakur in the ninth over At his individual score of 5 Harris was caught as square leg by Washington SundarHowever Labuschagne and Smith took control over the innings and stitched a useful partnership as Australia went into the Lunch break without losing any further wicketsResuming the second session at 652 both Smith and Labuschagne scored freely and collected boundaries whenever the Indian bowlers erred in their line and lengthsHowever just when Australia looked to be in control debutant offspinner Washington Sundar claimed the big wicket of Smith at his individual score of 36 getting the prolific batsman caught at short midwicket by SharmaIndia couldve got their fourth wicket soon after that had skipper Ajinkya Rahane not dropped the catch of Labuschagne at gully against Navdeep Saini What added to the wounds of the Indian team was that Saini suffered injury in his groin after that incident in the 36th over and was taken off the field only to be send for scans later in the dayWade who came to bat after the fall of Smiths wicket started off slowly but once he got set the lefthanded batsman stitched a brilliant partnership with Labuschagne The pair added 113 runs before Wade became the first Test scalp of T Natarajan in the final session of the dayNatarajan playing his first Test then removed Labuschagne and brought India back into the gameHowever Paine and Green then played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten 61run partnership to help the hosts end the opening day of the series decider having the upper handBrief scores Australia 2745 at Stumps on Day One Marnus Labuschagne 108 Matthew Wade 45 T Natarajan 263This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever