It was not quite the start India were looking for in the opening Test of the four-match Border Gavaskar Trophy Test series at Adelaide. At stumps, the scorecard read 233/6, and had it not been for the two partnerships - Virat-Pujara 68 (191) and Virat-Rahane 88 (168) - India could have been in more trouble.

The opening woes begun with Prithvi Shaw being bowled out off just the second ball of the innings. Playing Mitchell Starc on the rise with a big gap between the bat and pad in sqinging conditions cost Shaw his wicket.

In almost a similar length delivery from Pat Cummins, Mayank Agarwal (17) fell victim. Even though the gap was narrower, Cummins’ off-cutter yielded a similar result by knocking off Agarwal’s off and middle. 

The slump was arrested for a while as Cheteshwar Pujara’s solid defence kept India’s hope alive with a 68-run partnership alongside skipper Virat Kohli. Pujara was cautious throughout but punished the loose ones effectively. 

However, his stint was cut short when an inside-edge off the pad went straight to Marnus Labuschagne at forward short leg off Nathan Lyon. Initially, even though he was given “not out”, Pujara had to walk back on 43, following a successful DRS call from the Aussies.

After Pujara’s dismissal, it all boiled down to Kohli (74) and Ajinkya Rahane’s (42) efforts and the duo held fort for quite some time to revive the innings.

The otherwise defensive Rahane was even seen pulling Cummins for the first six of the match.

However, the joy was short-lived as Kohli fell to a big mix-up with Rahane and was run out. This was only the second time in Tests that Kohli was found short of his crease.

Following Kohli’s dismissal, there were two more quick wickets of Rahane and Hanuma Vihari (16) and at the end of day’s play, it was Wriddhiman Saha (9*) and R Ashwin (15*) in the middle. 

Here’s hoping Friday brings some good tidings for all Indian fans.