Late wickets brought India back as Australia finished the opening day of the first Test on 354/6 at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday. The second new ball did the trick for the tourists as Varun Aaron and Mohammed Shami saved the day for the tourists, who had been badly hit by a brilliant century from David Warner earlier in the day.
However, the late revival cannot hide Virat Kohli's unimpressive Test captaincy debut. The stand-in captain's involvement with the team was unnoticeable and he failed to come up with new ideas as his bowlers yielded 113/2 and 125/0 in the first two seasons. India employed spinners at both ends for the most part of the final session but, despite debutant legspinner Karn Sharma removing Warner (145 off 163 balls, 19x4s), their overall impact was poor on Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh, who after minor anxious moments at the start of their innings, used their feet to good effect to mitigate the spin of Karn and Murali Vijay, adding 87 runs in the process.
Aaron extracted extra bounce in 85th over to remove Marsh (41) and then Shami got rid of the nightwatchman Nathan Lyon (3) and Brad Haddin (0) to bring India back in the match. Stumps were taken following Haddin's wicket with Smith unbeaten on 72. Aaron and Shami returned 2/95 and 2/83 respectively, while Ishant Sharma and Karn turned in 1/54 and 1/89.
On a pitch offering no real support, the Indians bowled badly in the first two sessions. They needed to bowl with discipline and maintain a nagging line but they chose to offer loose deliveries instead - with the exception of Ishant - to let, first Warner and Clarke and then Smith and Marsh, forge good stands. There were too many short balls and those that were fuller lacked the right line. Shami, who was included in the XI after Bhuvneshwar Kumar was ruled out on account of an ankle injury, managed to induce a couple edges off Clarke but they fell short of the fielders in the slips.
Clarke strained his back as he tried to avoid an Ishant Sharma bouncer down the legside and after a brief conversation with the medical staff, decided to retire on 60 (84 balls, 9x4s). The Australia captain, who looked in good touch, had added 118 runs with Warner for the third wicket when the injury happened. Imperious right from the start of his innings, Warner got to his second Test century at this venue, and 10th overall, by pushing Karn towards long-off for one early in the final session. The burly left-hander was in his element and unleashed powerful cuts several times, especially in the deep point region; there were also plenty of drives through the covers. It was moving to see Warner, on reaching his hundred, look up to the sky as if in communion with Hughes. The 28-year-old was in such good touch that 200 appeared there for the taking, but trying to slog-sweep Karn for a six, he found Ishant at deep midwicket.
This was a major breakthrough for India. Either side of the departure of Chris Rogers for 9, edging Ishant to second slip, Warner grabbed the bowling by the scruff of its neck. He sped to 50 off 45 balls as the Indian bowlers mostly chose to bowl to him from around the wicket. The idea was to keep Warner tethered but a poor line and length made their plans go up the spout. He cut and drove with ease on a surface not offering the pace bowers much and that dominating innings set the tone for a big total - and despite Shami's late blows, if Smith can rally with the tail and get the total to 450, Australia will feel they have enough to take a 1-0 lead.
Brief scores: Australia 354/6 at stumps on day one vs India (Warner 145, Smith 72*, Clarke 60 retired hurt; Shami 2/89, Aaron 2/95
