CRICKET POLL

In a drama-filled start, India inched to 107/4 at Tea on the first day in Sydney. There were questions to be asked of India right from the start when Jasprit Bumrah walked out for the toss instead of Rohit Sharma. The pacer, who had led India in Perth, mentioned that Rohit had "opted to rest" for this match, and proceeded to win the toss under overcast conditions on a green top.

His decision to bat first put forward tougher questions for the Indian batters. India's openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, who moved back to the top in Rohit's absence, began watchfully as the conditions demanded and remained tight in defence and in the corridor outside off to begin with.

But against the run of play, Rahul flicked a legstump half-volley from Mitchell Starc straight into the hands of square leg, pushing India behind. Jaiswal tried to counter Scott Boland's relentless lines and lengths by walking towards the bowler, but ended up nicking one into the hands of debutant Beau Webster in the slip cordon.

Boland nearly did an encore with Virat Kohli nicking the first ball he faced to the right of Steve Smith, who got fingers underneath and pushed it to Webster to the right of him. But replays appeared to show that that the ball might have touched the ground as Smith was doing his acrobatic effort. Third umpire Joel Wilson ruled this in Kohli's favour.

With that slice of luck, the out-of-form senior batter pushed ahead with much of the discipline he had showcased in the first innings at Melbourne. Pat Cummins used his four frontline pace options in short spells and each of them posed tough questions, giving little in terms of scoring options for both Kohli and Shubman Gill, who was back to his No. 3 spot.

Gill had some close shaves with an inside edge missing the stumps and another outside edge flying over the cordon. But he too, like Kohli, was intent on minimising the unforced errors for large part of the 40-run partnership of 106 balls. But at the stroke of Lunch, he danced down to Nathan Lyon and nicked to slip pushing India further back.

Kohli's vigil did not last too long either for he poked outside off and was out caught in the slip cordon for the seventh time in the series. The metronomic Boland could have had Ravindra Jadeja early as well if not for a dropped catch by Smith.

At the other end, an uncharacteristically orthodox Rishabh Pant copped blows on the body but did not attempt anything out of the ordinary in a fighting knock. With the Australian pacers offering no freebies, Pant's boundary opportunity had to be manufactured when he danced down the ground and struck Webster down the ground for a six. A hit off a short ball from Lyon at the stroke of Tea gave him another boundary in an otherwise grind which earned him 32 off 80 balls.

Brief Scores: India 107/4 (Rishabh Pant 32*, Shubman Gill 20; Scott Boland 2-15) vs Australia