Adelaide: Seasoned pacer Mitchell Starc made the most of a moving pink ball for a career-best six-wicket haul as India flattered to deceive to let Australia hold all the aces on day one of the day-night Test here on Friday.
Opting to bat, India had it under control at 69 for one before they lost their way to settle for 180 all out at stroke of dinner.
A fearless Nitish Reddy (42 off 54) was the sole man responsible for taking his team past the 150-run mark, adding valuable runs with the lower-order.
Australia did well to reach 86 for one at stumps with Marnus Labuschagne (20 batting off 67) and Nathan McSweeney (38 batting off 97) finding welcome runs.
The conditions remained challenging for the batters through the day but the pitch had enough runs for the taking.
The hosts would be backing themselves to surpass India’s total on day two, considering the easier batting conditions in daylight.
Labuschagne, fighting for his place in the side, once again took a long time, 19 balls to be specific, to get off the mark but then found ways to score runs. McSweeney was dropped by Rishabh Pant early in his innings and he rode that luck to frustrate the opposition.
Birthday boy Jasprit Bumrah was once again the best Indian bowler on show and picked up the only wicket to fall in Australia’s innings, having Usman Khawaja caught at first slip with a beauty.
The Indian pace spearhead will need more support from the fellow fast bowlers on Saturday.
In the second session, Starc made the pink ball talk to take his maiden five-wicket haul against India.
Having reduced the visitors to 82 for four at tea, Australia took the remaining six wickets at the cost of 98 runs before dinner break was taken.
Starc sizzled with his trademark inswingers to remove R Ashwin and Harshit Rana while Cummins used the short ball effectively.
Rohit Sharma (3 off 23), batting in the middle order after six years, was trapped in front by Boland with a ball that jagged back from length.
Pant (21 off 35) played his trademark aggressive game before falling to a sharp bouncer from Cummins.
Reddy, who impressed on his debut in Perth, added much-needed runs to the total alongside number eight Ashwin (22 off 22), who replaced Washington Sundar in the playing eleven.
Seeing the wickets falling at the other end, Reddy went for his shots and that included a couple of sensational sixes off Starc and Boland to take the total past 150.
He first dispatched a wide ball from Starc over extra cover before reverse scooping Boland for a maximum over the slip cordon. Four balls later, Reddy pulled Boland for another six.
In the first session, it was Starc who landed the timely blows as India squandered a promising start to reach 82 for four at tea.
Starc removed opener K L Rahul (37 off 64 balls) and Virat Kohli (7 off 8 balls) in quick succession to turn the tide in Australia’s favour. That was after a 69-run stand between Rahul and Shubman Gill (31 off 51).
It got worse for India when Boland had a well set Gill plumb in front with a full ball on the stumps. In a remarkable of turn events, India lost their last three wickets for 12 runs.
It was a rather dramatic start to the proceedings after India opted to bat on a pitch with decent grass cover.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who played a knock to remember in his opening Test in Perth, was out first ball as he missed a fuller one from Starc that swung back just enough to be adjudged leg before wicket.
Gill, coming back to the side after recovering from a thumb injury, batted with supreme confidence while Rahul changed gears after taking 21 balls to get off the mark.
Four out of five fours from Gill’s bat came off Starc with the highlights being an off-drive and a cover drive off the left-arm pacer.
Rahul, at the other end, would have gone back without scoring had Boland not overstepped on the first ball of his spell. Known for relentlessly attacking the off-stump, Boland induced a faint outside edge from Rahul’s bat. The batter was walking immediately but soon it was adjudged a no ball.
India were on course for a productive first session until Starc got rid of Rahul and Kohli in successive overs with short of length balls that rose sharply on the batters to have them caught in the slips.
Gill was the last one to be dismissed in the session as he missed an attempted flick off Boland to be trapped in front.
