- India end Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at 215/2 against Australia in Melbourne.
- Debutant Mayank Agarwal made 76, the highest-score by an Indian on Test debut in Australia
- Cheteshwar Pujara scored his 21st Test half century and was unbeaten on 68 at Stumps.
Debutant Mayank Agarwal provided the base with a confident half-century before Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara steered India to a solid 215/2 on Day 1 of the third Test against Australia.
Agarwal, thrusted into the squad following the failures of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay, responded with a 76-run knock, sorting out India's opening woes to some extent. The conditions, though, were completely different from what Rahul and Vijay had countered in bowler-friendly Adelaide and Perth.
After Mayank fell, skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara mastered a placid pitch to help India cross the 200-run mark. At Stumps, Virat was unbeaten on 47 and Pujara on 68. The duo are the only two batsmen in the series so far who have scored centuries and looked set to reach the three figure on Day 2.
Pitch in Focus
Australia had hoped the second new ball would bring wickets late in the day's play. World No.1-ranked batsman Kohli had a tense moment on 47 when he appeared to edge a low catch to Tim Paine off the bowling of Mitchell Starc, but the wicketkeeper was unable to grasp the difficult chance.
Kohli had won the toss and chosen to bat in sunny conditions on a pitch that had a covering of grass but offered little bounce and carry for the pace bowlers.
The state of the pitch will be carefully watched over the course of the match, after last year's Melbourne test match between Australia and England was a tame draw and the pitch was officially rated as "poor" by the International Cricket Council.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting told Channel Seven on Wednesday the pitch was showing "worrying signs" because of its "lack of bounce".
India’s New Opening Pair Stepped Up
Make-shift opener Hanuma Vihari did not make many runs, getting just 8 off 68 balls in his 40-run stand with Agarwal but they batted out 18.5 overs- India's longest opening stand in terms of balls faced in Test cricket across Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa since December 2010. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had batted out 29.3 overs against the Proteas at Centurion in that year.
The combination of Agarwal and Vihari was India's sixth opening pairing in 2018, and fifth in 11 overseas Tests this year.
Agarwal missed out on scoring a hundred on Test debut but grabbed the opportunity with both hands. His 76 came off 161 balls with eight shots to the fence and one over it. During his knock, he became only the second Indian to make a 50-plus score on debut on Australian soil after Dattu Phadkar (51) at SCG in Dec 1947.
He fell at stroke of tea, caught down the leg side to be second victim of paceman Pat Cummins, the only successful bowler for the hosts today.
A Pujara-Virat Show
Skipper Kohli and Pujara then took control of the proceedings, denying the hosts any more success in the final session.
The Indian captain had walked out to bat to a mixture of cheers and boos following his on-field clashes with Australia's captain Paine in the second test in Perth, but soon impressed the capacity crowd at the MCG with his repertoire of strokes. He sped off the blocks and at one stage was scoring at strike-rate 70-plus before Australia reined things in with some tight bowling. It soon reflected in India's overall run-rate as well which didn't cross 2.5/over all day.
At the other end, Pujara continued in his usual manner and brought up his 21st Test half-century off 152 balls. Play was halted briefly when on 50, he was struck on the right index finger by the fiery Cummins. Pujara's finger was taped before the batsman resumed at 174-2.
Pujara, the leading scorer in the series with 290 runs, suffered another bruising blow on 57 when Cummins crashed a short ball into his shoulder.
Australia’s Missed Chances
Australia tried their best to etch out a breakthrough and in desperation also wasted a DRS review for lbw off Nathan Lyon (0/59). They took the second new ball in the 83rd over, and the big moment came in the 87th over when Tim Paine dropped Kohli (on 47) off Starc (0/32).
To their credit Australia created chances in the latter half of this second session. In the 52nd over off Mitchell Marsh, a delivery looped up towards gully off Pujara but fell just short of a diving Usman Khawaja.
Then, three overs later, Agarwal edged Cummins through the vacant third slip. The pacer picked himself up though and three balls later he had Agarwal as Australia got a boost going into tea.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)