Sydney, Jan 3 (IANS): Top-order batters KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill were taken out cheaply as Australia exerted its control to leave India at 57/3 in 25 overs at lunch on day one of fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
On a cloudy morning, India left out captain Rohit Sharma, with Jasprit Bumrah replacing him at the helm. Bumrah elected to bat first on a green pitch after winning the toss, but India failed to capitalise on it as Rahul and Jaiswal were dismissed within the first eight overs. Gill looked good until he had a lapse in concentration and was dismissed at the stroke of lunch.
In the morning, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins got some steep bounce on the green SCG pitch, which has showed signs of being on the slower side. Rahul initially showed good judgement to the balls outside the off-stump, but fell for four off 14 balls after chipping a half-volley on leg-stump to square leg off Starc.
Boland strikes with his fourth ball in India’s eighth over when he got to nip one away and extracted an outside edge of Jaiswal’s bat, which was safely caught by debutant Beau Webster at third slip, as the opener fell for 10 off 26 balls.
The seamer almost got his second wicket, on Virat Kohli's first delivery at the pitch, on the bounce when he found Kohli's outside edge, and Steve Smith dived across to his right at second slip and scooped the ball to Marnus Labuschagne at gully, however the ball seemed to roll of Smith's finger and brush the ground, something which TV umpire Joel Wilson spotted while ruling Kohli not out.
From there, Kohli, batting with his stance covering middle and off stumps, looked solid in defence, even as Gill got a great start by collecting a four each off Cummins and Starc. Just when it felt that India would end the session unscathed, Gill danced down the pitch against Nathan Lyon in the final over before lunch, but he managed to only nick him behind to slip, and fall for 20 off 64 balls.
Brief Scores: India 57/3 in 25 overs (Shubman Gill 20, Virat Kohli 12 not out; Nathan Lyon 1-1, Scott Boland 1-5) against Australia