The crowd came in their numbers, almost 48,000 to eye ball , the 1st days play in the 5th, and final test at SCG. It was a bouncy pitch , not the normal SCG surface
India batting first after winning the toss must have regretted the decision to bat first.
It was a difficult pitch to get bat on whilst the ball seemed , swung , on an uneven surface and the bounce that Pat Cummins, Scot Boland, Mitchell Starch extracted was no mean task even for top batters in World cricket.
Rohit Sharma dropped himself from the game , Shubman Gill, replaced him , whilst Australia rested Mitch Marsh and handed a debut cap to Beauho Webster.
The top order had a torrid time in the first session of the aussie bowling mainly due to the extra carry and bounce. K.L Rahul opened the flood gates caught at Slip off the bowling of Mitchel Starc, followed by Jaiswal trapped to a well set ploy set by Pat Cummins to have Scot Boland bowl him an off cutter which he guided to the safe hands of Sam konstos at mid wicket. The last ball before the mid break gave the Australian bowlers another breakthrough as Shubman Gill went for a mild walk down the pitch to a Nathen Lyon off spinner , only to give Alex Carey an opportunity to stump him.
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58 for 3 at lunch electing to bat first was not a good reading for India who opted to bar first.
Virat Koholi and his temptation outside his off stump to poke at deliveries is an unhealed virus. The score on 72 and Virat batting on 17, he obliged Australia with their 5th scalp by nicking a Boland out swinger to Cummins at Slips.
India, from then on, added a bit of value on their wickets. Pant top scored with 40 , but a mistimed lofted drive saw the back of him followed by an over ambitious Jadeja for 26 .
Thanks to Jasprit Bumrah’s guts, who made 22 valuable runs swinging his bat at all deliveries and striking a few, India got up to 185 , which could be challenging on this surface at the SCG.
Boland 4 for 31 , Starc 3 for 49 , Cummins 2 for 37 and Nathen Lyon 1 for 18 bowled well, but they bowled 6 no balls and gave away 26 extras which is a high percentage in a low score of 185 runs.
Australia end day one on 9 runs for 1 wicket.
Day 2 will be enthralling