[AtheK]

Great call on picking Subdar over senior pro, on his current form as per Nz series he did deserve to play ahead of senior pro.

While Jaiswal goes without troubling scorers.

[rx100]

Devdutt Padikkals woeful 23 balls stay finally ends. He was batting like his shoes were glued to the ground with zero feet movement.

In Hotstar, quality of streaming is poor and visual and commentary is also not in sync.

[msdivy]

The 2 top test cricket teams, playing against each other, are both captained by bowlers. I'm not sure how many times this has happened. Anyway, Australia won't make it easy in their home. I hope the Indian team shows resilience and puts up the fight. I wish them to win!

[rx100]

Wow, that’s a poor decision from third umpire. No conclusive evidence of edge other than a spike on snickometer, most probably bat hitting pad. That’s really bad broadcasting with not enough camera angles to show and we blame BCCI always. KL was in good touch.

[AtheK]

Another masterclass innings by kohli, visual treat to eyes.

The rest of batsman also putting up a sublime batting display, amazing start to another series by our rock solid consistent top order just like last few years.

[Laxmistart]

So far so good, our team is really exceeding expectations
We are now in a familiar territory banking on our middle and low order to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

[Emvi]

When you play against Australia in Australia, it's often 11 versus 12 or 13, if you know what I mean. With the Indian superstars in extended hibernation mode, the task has become that much more difficult. However, I still believe that if the current players perform to their potential, they have it in them to take the fight to the Aussies. That said, the way the first session has gone is hardly confidence inspiring.

[hothatchaway]

Excellent batting by Rahul before being sent back. He did what is required in those conditions, leave a lot of deliveries, play inside the line, do not jump onto the front foot and play late. Jaiswal will somehow need to adapt else it will be a long and fruitless series except for perhaps Sydney. Padikkal tried to not commit himself in order to survive, but still has a long way to go in these conditions.

Kohli, with his eyesight and reflexes a shadow of what it was 5 years back, tried wresting the initiative by committing himself on to the front foot. It was just a matter of time before a short delivery got him.

Honestly things could have been worse and Pant and Jurel would have been out in the middle much earlier, but for Rahul's resolute effort. He was perhaps unlucky with his dismissal. The team selection also looks desperate, packing as many batsmen in the lower order (at least on paper) as possible. As I predicted, Washy got the nod before Ash and Jaddu. Akashdeep or perhaps even Prasidh miss out.

Watching test match cricket in Australia is a real treat. Hope Pant and Jurel take the fight to them hosts.

[NPV]

Looks like India is playing to their current Test form, and this looks like it will end in yet another sad first inning performance with < 200 runs and then playing catch up on the remaining days!
Unless, of course there is a good resistance and a great lower order resurgence, fingers crossed.

Of the 4 wickets lost, Jaiswal and Devdutt out for ducks, the latter struggling for 23 deliveries before edging one. The other 2 wickets were unlucky for us, Kohli got a beauty that took the edge after he had almost safely left it alone only to ricochet.

Rahul was the only saving grace this morning but his inning ended with great support from Australia’s mystery player - I mean English umpire Richard Illingworth

[searacer932]

Kohli does not have backfoot play. What's a surprise is that it took international bowlers these many years to work him out. He is purely a white ball cricketer.

It's a shame that BCCI and selectors didn't take the right decision about a year back.

[PreludeSH]

When you have 4 pacers and win the toss, why would you not bowl if you win the toss

I like watching Hazelwood bowl. He so compact in his run, delivery and length. You dont need high pace to be a good pacer

Hoping we will improve with each innings and test and will get to see a great series. But Kohli should be dropped.

[NPV]

I think playing all three formats for a long time took its toll on Kohli. He should have dropped out of T20 a long time ago to focus on ODI and Tests.
In the modern Test game, I believe someone like Kohli is a great asset simply because his style of being an innings builder suits both ODI and Test cricket and he has enough patience and experience to be successful. Unfortunately he is now in a bad patch especially in Tests.

The current Indian test team can’t score 200+ runs in an inning consistently and don’t last more than 2 sessions of play (60 overs), what a sad state of affairs!

Meanwhile, as in the recent past, only Rishab Pant remains as the lone challenger for India.

[deathwalkr]

Sigh, 93/6 :(

What a messy start to the series. Hope batters get better as the series progresses.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by PreludeSH

When you have 4 pacers and win the toss, why would you not bowl if you win the toss

The Perth pitch quickens up as the match goes along. Basically the green grass left on "stands" up making it difficult to bat. The decision to bat first was right, just that our batting got blown away yet again.



Got this from reddit. And on que, most news articles are calling Hazlewood's wicket ball to Kohli "unplayable". I mean it was a good delivery, par for the course for Josh, but Virat made it unplayable by committing to the front foot on a bouncy wicket. His change in guard didn't help too.

[Bhargav7]

Sad to see Kohli going down like this. And as fans, it is getting stressful to see him struggle. If he doesn't have enough time to go back to domestic and try to fix his technique, it is in the best interest of everyone that he retires. He has nothing left to prove, anyway. BCCI is not going to drop him for sure. Why tarnish the legacy when the game seems to have left him?