Ravi Jadeja returned from a knee injury that had kept him out of international cricket for five months to torment Australia again.

He claimed 5-47 as Australia was bowled out for only 177 on the opening day of the Test at the VCA Ground in Nagpur. The last time that Australia toured India in 2017 Jadeja was named Player of the Series after taking 25 wickets.

In reply India was 1-77 at stumps and had reduced the deficit to exactly 100 runs. Playing in his home town, India’s captain Rohit Sharma was undefeated on 56. There was, at least, something for Australia to celebrate in the penultimate over of the day when KL Rahul who’d made 22 gave a return catch to Todd Murphy. It was the 22 year old off spinner’s first Test wicket having received his Baggy Green before play from Nathan Lyon.

Australia had talked with some confidence before the series began about the invaluable experience that many in the squad now had over the team that had toured six years ago and about the good form that a number of players had shown over the last twelve months.

When it came to being out in the middle in Indian conditions though, it was the experience of the Ravis, Jadeja and Ashwin that helped win the first battle.

Within the first thirteen deliveries of the series both openers were back in the pavilion. It was thought that the left handers would struggle against the spinners on the Nagpur surface but it was the Indian seamers that had done the early damage.

Mohammed Siraj’s first delivery swung in and hit Usman Khawaja on the pad as he took a short stride forward. Rohit Sharma took his time before requesting a review but his decision proved to be right with the ball showing to be crashing into leg stump.

Khawaja had made only 1 and David Warner fell for the same score six balls later as Mohammed Shami sent his off-stump cartwheeling with his first delivery from around the wicket.

Not for the first time, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith steadied the innings. Labuschagne was the more aggressive as the pair negotiated the change from a seam to an all spin attack from the sixth over. They were still together at lunch and, four overs after the break, had added 82 runs when Jadeja drew Labuschagne forward and he was smartly stumped by KS Bharat who had been chosen to replace Rishabh Pant who is recovering from his recent car accident.

Pat Cummins had surprised everyone by announcing that Matt Renshaw was replacing Travis Head at number five in the batting line up. True, Matt Renshaw has been in fine form in both the Sheffield Shield and the Big Bash this summer but Travis Head, ranked number four in the ICC batting rankings, appeared to have done nothing that should see him lose his place. He scored over fifty in five of his seven innings in the summer Tests averaging 87.50 including 175 in Adelaide against West Indies.

It was a curious decision by the selectors and was already being questioned before Renshaw fell lbw first ball. The selectors will be hoping that the Queenslander makes some runs during the second innings to relieve the pressure they must be feeling.

It is often said that it is the straight ball that is the one that takes wickets in the sub-continent and it proved to be the undoing of Steve Smith. He’d taken over the mantle of being the more aggressive batter when Labuschagne departed, striking three fours off Axar Patel’s ninth over. Next over he was bowled through the gate as Jadeja struck for a third time.

The game normally moves along when Alex Carey is at the crease and so it proved again as he used his favourite shots against the spinners, the sweep and reverse sweep. He’d rattled up seven boundaries but, having scored 36 in 31 balls he dragged the ball onto his stumps when he mistimed another reverse sweep to end a 53 run sixth wicket partnership. It was a milestone wicket for Ashwin, his 450th in Tests.

At 6-162 Australia was looking for some runs from its tail but, instead, the innings fell apart as the last five wickets fell in less than eleven overs with only 15 more runs added, with Peter Handscomb scoring 31 in his first Test in four years.

Australia lost its last Test on the sub-continent when it went down to Sri Lanka having scored 364 in its first innings. Pat Cummins had acknowledged that to be in a strong position when playing in these conditions a team has to be looking to score 500 or more indicating exactly what it means to be bowled out for only 177.