Rohit’s first Test ton as captain and Murphy’s five-for on debut headline the day’s action

Jadeja and Axar underline their all-rounder credentials with unbeaten half-centuries as India takes control, leading by almost 150 runs

Rohit Sharma continued his bond with the city of his birth with a hundred while the all-rounder duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel ensured India built on the captain’s first century against Australia and take a firm grip on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series-opener here on Friday.

The trio’s effort also eclipsed young off-spinner Todd Murphy’s five-wicket haul on Test debut, as India ended the day at 321 for seven, with a sizeable lead of 144 runs.

When Rohit and R. Ashwin — promoted on the first evening to shield the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli — walked out at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium to resume the first innings, India was 100 runs behind Australia’s 177.

Pacer Scott Boland and the two off-spinners — veteran Nathan Lyon and rookie Murphy — were accurate all through the morning but for more than an hour, the Indian batters held the fort before Ashwin was finally dismissed by Murphy.

Both the off-spinners preferred to bowl around the wicket to the Indians for most of the day’s play. Murphy was rewarded when a top-edged sweep by Cheteshwar Pujara went straight to Boland at short fine-leg.

Rohit, though, was playing an excellent knock at the other end, playing the patient game and making the most of every scoring opportunity. The pitch appeared to hardly have any demons in it for him.

When Pat Cummins enticed him into a short-ball ploy with two fielders on the boundary, Rohit took up the challenge and just cleared deep square-leg for his second six. A mix-up with Kohli, to be saved by a wayward throw by Marnus Labuschagne, was the closest he came to being dismissed in the morning.