India went one up in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after winning the opening Test by an innings and 132 runs, having bowled Australia out in a session for only 91 in their second innings.

Although Australia capitulated second time around the damage was probably caused by their first innings score of 177 with the visitors always going to be playing catch up from that position. As it was, India took a first innings lead of 223 after being bowled out for 400 and from there it looked as if it was just a matter of how big the defeat was going to be.

In the end it was huge as Australia capitulated for 91 in 32.3 overs after Ravi Ashwin took 5-37, all top order batters.

He was handed the new ball at the start of the innings and had immediate success. He’d pitched his second delivery up and Usman Khawaja drove it for four. Three balls later and Khawaja saw his opportunity again but this time Ashwin had got the ball to drop a touch sooner and the edge was taken by Virat Kohli at slip, with the opener dismissed for 5.

Having held that one, Kohli put down a chance four balls later when Ashwin enticed David Warner, on 1, into another drive.

Player of the match, Ravi Jadeja, then took the first of his two wickets when Marnus Labuschagne failed to come forward to a delivery that turned past the edge to fall comprehensively lbw for 17.

The next four wickets went to Ashwin, all lbw, as he carved through the top order to claim his five wicket haul.

Warner hit consecutive fours in Ashwin’s seventh over but next ball there was a puff of dust as the ball pitched and it went straight on to trap Warner in front for 10. Three Ashwin deliveries later and Matt Renshaw fell for 2 to one that straightened, Renshaw having only faced eight deliveries in the match as a replacement for Travis Head.

Peter Handscomb fared slightly better on his return to Test cricket but could only make 6 before falling in Ashwin’s next over and it was Alex Carey’s turn next. He used the sweep to hit the first two deliveries he faced from the tall off-spinner for boundaries but, just as in the first innings, the reverse sweep failed him and he was walking back having made 10.

Steve Smith was able to defy the onslaught but was getting little support at the other end as the Australian lower order once again couldn’t cope with the high quality bowling. Pat Cummins was caught behind for 1 as Jadeja took his second wicket and Todd Murphy managed to score his first runs in Test cricket. The two he took off Jadeja was his only contribution as he then provided Axar Patel with his first wicket of the game with a weak chip to midwicket.

Rohit Sharma turned to pace to finish things off and Mohammed Shami duly obliged by bowling Nathan Lyon for 8 and trapping Scott Boland lbw for a duck to wrap things up.

Smith was left undefeated on 25 but Australia had capitulated to their lowest Test score in India with the entire side dismissed in the middle session of the third day.

There was one major positive that they could take from the resounding defeat and that was the fine debut by Todd Murphy.

Resuming this morning when India was 7-321, Murphy took his sixth wicket of the innings in the second over when he managed to get a delivery to turn against the spin. It fooled Jadeja who shouldered arms as the ball crashed into his off stump to end an excellent innings of 70 and an 88 run eighth wicket partnership.

Shami had been dropped on the boundary by Boland off Lyon when he’d made 6 and he went on punish the mistake by scoring 37 including three sixes. It was Murphy again who forced the error that saw him top edge a sweep with Carey taking the catch.

The innings finally came to an end when Patel was bowled for his highest Test score of 84 by a Cummins yorker. By then the tail had done significant damage.

Australia pride themselves on the tail getting important runs but India turned the tables in the first innings here. Australia’s last four wickets could only add fifteen while India had been trailing by nine runs when their fifth wicket fell but secured a 223 run first innings advantage.

The last time Australia played at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, Jason Krejza returned the best bowling figures in an innings by an Australian on debut in India. He took 8-215 and twelve wickets in the match but went on to play only one more Test.

Murphy’s figures of 7-124 were not quite as good but it is clear that the young spinner should have a long future in the game after his remarkable first up effort.