Pujara steadies innings with Kohli; India 107/3 at end of session 2

Australia's Matthew Wade (C) dives in an efforts to take Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara's catch during the day one of the first cricket Test match between Australia and India in Adelaide on December 17, 2020. Pic/ AFP

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara put on a brilliant partnership in the second session to take India to a steady 107 for the loss of 3 wickets on Day 1 of the first Test against Australia at Adelaide today.

During their post-dinner session, India scored 66 runs in 30 overs.

It was not the best of starts for Team India lost both their opening batsman in the first session itself.

Opening batsman Prithvi Shaw, who was selected over another opener Shubman Gill for the first Test, fell for a duck in shocking fashion on the second ball of India's innings to Australian pacer Mitchell Starc.

Later on, his opening partner Mayank Agarwal was dismissed on 17 (40) by star all-rounder Pat Cummins which added to India's woes at the top.

After the two openers were sent back, Kohli and Pujara put on a 68-run partnership of 191 balls to keep the visitors in the game in the first innings with both batsmen playing cautiously in order to avoid any loss of wickets.

However, their partnership was cut short when Pujara was caught at leg-slip by Marnus Labuschagne against spinner Nathan Lyon and went back to the dressing room after scoring 43 runs off 160 balls. Captain Kohli remained unbeaten on 39 off 111 balls, hitting 4 boundaries. Ajinkya Rahane was at the crease with Kohli at the end of session 2.

Earlier, India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat against Australia in the first Test of the four-match series beginning Thursday at the Adelaide Oval.

"We are going to have a bat. It looks a nice wicket, nice and hard. Runs on the board is priceless, more so away from home. Hopefully, we can put pressure on them. We've prepared really well and have played a couple of tour games as well," said Kohli.

A day before the Test, on December 16, India announced their playing XI for the pink-ball Test at Adelaide, choosing Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal as the opening batsmen.

"We had everything clear on our end, that's why we announced our team yesterday. It was pretty okay. It wasn't that strange (their first pink-ball Test at home). The evening sessions are going to be more challenging. Few changes here and there. But this is a different challenge," he added.

With inputs from IANS

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