India vs Australia: Wanted to Put Ravichandran Ashwin Under a Bit of Pressure - Steve Smith

One of the more intriguing sub-plots of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia so far has been the battle between Ravichandran Ashwin and Steve Smith. Ashwin is India's premier spinner and Smith the lynchpin of Australia's batting line-up yet the battle so far in the series has been decidely one-sided, with Ashwin generally getting the better of the former Australia skipper for the most part. However, that changed during the first innings of the third Test at Sydney. Smith, playing in familiar conditions since this is his home ground, looked to be more enterprising with his strokeplay and was rewarded for his intent.

As he revealed at the end of Day 1, Smith wanted to try and put Ashwin under some pressure as he had been unsuccessful in doing that so far in this series.

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"I'm good, nice to spend a bit of time out there, nice to stitch in a partnership with Marnus. I wanted to put him (Ashwin) under a little bit of pressure which I haven't done in this series. Was just trying to hold the grip a bit tighter, I've been struggling, so I was getting into good positions today. Was good to get a couple of boundaries early. Marnus played well, hopefully, we go along well tomorrow," Smith said after the conclusion of play on the opening day.

Debutant Will Pucovski and Marnus Labuschagne smacked half-centuries as Australia recovered from an early setback to build a promising first innings in the rain-hit third Test against India Thursday.

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Following David Warner's departure for five, the hosts recovered to 166 for two at stumps after more than three hours' play was lost due to persistent drizzle at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Labuschagne was not out 67 while Smith reached double figures for the first time this series with an attacking unbeaten 31. Pucovski contributed 62 in an impressive maiden Test innings.

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In a surprise move, India skipper Ajinkya Rahane under-bowled Ravindra Jadeja, who got some spin in the last few overs of the day. He only bowled three and gave away two runs.

The two sides went into the third of the four-match series level at 1-1.

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