Rishabh Pant and captain Rohit Sharma were on the crease at 4 and 1 respectively at the break after a mini collapse
Indian batsman Rohit Sharma plays a shot on the first day of the second Test (Pic: AFP)
Veteran Australian pacer Mitchell Starc landed two timely blows before the break as India squandered a promising start to reach 82 for four at tea on day one of the pink ball Test on Friday.
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Starc removed opener 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 Scott 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.
Sitting comfortably in the dressing room minutes ago, skipper Rohit Sharma was forced to enter the field and was batting on 1 alongside Rishabh Pant (4 batting) at the break. Rohit decided to drop himself down the order to accommodate Rahul at the top.
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 Australia a couple of weeks ago, was out first ball as he missed a full ball 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 from the get-go while Rahul changed gears after taking 21 balls to get off the mark.
Also Read: A deep dive into Rohit Sharma’s middle-order numbers
Four out of five fours from Gill's bat came off Starc who was guilty of bowling a tad too full or short at times. The highlight of Gill's innings was the off-drive and 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.
After opening his account, Rahul started playing aggressive and the highlight of his knock was the copy book cover drive off Boland.
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.
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