Renshaw’s innings interrupted when he retired hurt 15 minutes before lunch because of a stomach bug during the first Test against India in Pune

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

When you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.



Matt Renshaw’s ill-timed bathroom break infuriated former Australia captain Allan Border and temporarily Steve Smith, but the opener made it up to his skipper on Thursday.



Renshaw followed up his maiden Test century at the SCG in January with a knock of far greater significance in Pune, top-scoring with 68 as Australia reached 9-256 at stumps on day one of the first Test against India.



Renshaw leads Australian resistance against India in Pune Test Read more

The tourists will resume with the game, played on a spin-friendly surface that Shane Warne likened to “the surface of Mars”, in the balance. Mitchell Starc is 57 not out, having teed off with great success after Australia slipped to 9-205.

Renshaw adopted a far more measured approach, soaking up 156 balls as he knuckled down against Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.



Renshaw’s innings was interrupted when he retired hurt 15 minutes before lunch because of a stomach bug. David Warner had just been dismissed, with Smith stunned to see the 20-year-old rushing past him



“He wasn’t too thrilled about it,” Renshaw said. “He didn’t really understand what was going on at the start, I sort of just ran past him ... he called me back and he wanted to have a discussion with me but I just told him I had to go off.

“But we’ve had a chat now, we’re all good. He understands that when you need to go to the toilet, you need to go to the toilet.”

Renshaw felt sick for a couple of hours but strapped on the pads and walked out to bat following the dismissal of Smith, adding 32 runs to his score.



“I felt quite bad, knowing that I could be letting the team down. That’s why I went back out there,” he said. “That was the most challenging bit, waiting to bat ... because as an opener you just go straight out there and bat.”

Border was highly critical of Renshaw, saying he hopes the opener is “lying on the table in there half dead”. “Otherwise as captain, I would not be happy,” Border said on Fox Sports.

Renshaw shouldered arms in response. “That’s just something I guess he grew up with, and that was his sort of mentality,” Renshaw said.

Mitchell Starc will resume on 57 on Friday, having swung momentum for the nth time in a topsy-turvy start to the four-Test series.



Starc and Josh Hazlewood’s unbeaten final-wicket stand is already worth 51 runs, with the latter scoring just one of them. “We were all sitting sort of in our whites ready to go ... it was a really entertaining innings and it helped us massively,” Renshaw said of Starc’s innings. “We had a great day.”

Australian cricketers struck down with illness in India

Dean Jones - Chennai (1986): The Victorian was labelled “weak” by his captain Allan Border for wanting to stop batting during the famous tied Test. Jones was urinating involuntarily and vomiting at the side of the pitch in extreme heat, but scored 210 before being put on a saline drip.



Mark Waugh - Bangalore (1998): Struggling to get out of bed due to a bout of gastro, he batted for more than six hours to score a stunning 153 not out to help Australia avoid a 3-0 series whitewash in the third Test.



Michael Clarke - Bangalore (2007): The former captain was up the night before a one-day international with vomiting and diarrhoea before posting a century.



Brett Lee - Nagpur (2008): Despite being passed fit to play in the fourth Test after falling ill two days before, the paceman spent plenty of time off the ground in India’s first innings and could contribute only 16 overs.



David Warner - Chennai (2013): Shane Watson was forced to open the batting after gastro prevented Warner taking his place at the top of the order. Warner recovered to come in at No 3, posting 23 runs.



James Faulkner - Mohali (2016): The gastro-struck all-rounder was limited to walking a few laps at training a day before Australia’s World T20 win over Pakistan. But he recovered quickly to take 5-27, the best bowling figures by an Australian in T20 internationals.



Matt Renshaw - Pune (2017): In his first Test innings on Indian soil, the lanky opener caused confusion when he jogged off the field before retiring ill. Returned later in the day to scored an impressive half-century.