Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood grabbed four wickets, including Virat Kohli, in a daunting opening session to leave India struggling on the first day of the first Test against Australia on Friday in Perth.
After captain Jasprit Bumrah won the toss on a fine morning, the visitors fell to 51-4 at lunch with superstar Kohli again at low cost, gone for five.
Rishabh Pant was unbeaten on 10 and Dhruv Jurel not out on four in front of a surging, pro-India crowd at Perth Stadium.
Starc and Hazlewood were both 2-10 from their eight overs each.
Yashasvi Jaiswal went scoreless in the third, edging out an attempted push from Starc to debutant Nathan McSweeney, who did well to collect low at gully.
With Shubman Gill nursing an injured and ruled out thumb, left-hander Devdutt Padikkal came in at number three for his second Test and almost immediately survived a big weight cry.
Australia’s famous fast attack was in full swing and it proved sluggish for India, who climbed to 14-1 from 10 overs.
The nervous Padikkal faced 23 deliveries without scoring before his luck ran out when Hazlewood came in and drew an edge which was easily taken by wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
That brought Kohli to the rank, in desperate need of a big score after just two Test centuries in the last five years and with growing questions over whether he still warranted selection.
Despite an excellent record in Australia, he was never comfortable and lasted just 12 balls before fending off a climbing Hazlewood thunderbolt that took the lead off Usman Khawaja at slip.
India’s woes deepened when opener KL Rahul hit Carey on 26 just before the break, after bowling well in difficult conditions.
The visitors have won their last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, but began this campaign on the back of a demoralizing 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand.
In shock, they dropped veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana made their debuts, with Washington Sundar being the preferred spin option.
mp/pst