Indian bowlers, led by ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, came out with a brilliant bowling performance on Saturday to help the team take Day One honours against Australia in the Boxing Day Test being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Losing the toss, the Indian team, led by stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, first bowled out the hosts for a paltry 195 and then ended the day at 36/1, trailing by 159 runs.
For Australia, Marnus Labuschagne was the highest scorer as he amassed 48 runs off 132 balls before becoming the first Test scalp of debutant pacer Mohammad Siraj.
Earlier the hosts, after electing to bat, lost the wicket of opener Joe Burns early with Bumrah having him caught behind for duck. Left-handed opener Matthew Wade, who played aggressively for his 39-ball 30, helped Australia move to 35 before off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin removed him. Wade tried to take the attack to the bowler by trying a slog-sweep but instead top-edged it for Ravindra Jadeja to take a catch at mid-wicket.
Debutant Shubman Gill too was lucky as he was dropped early in his innings. However, following that, he played some good shots and along with Pujara, helped the team go unscathed at the end of the day’s play.
Brief scores: Australia 195 all out (Marnus Labuschagne 48, Travis Head 38; Jaspirt Bumrah 4/56), India 36/1 at Stumps on Day 1 (Shubman Gill 38*, Cheteshwar Pujara 7*; Mitchell Starc 1/14).