The first day of the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was a question of two leg traps which resulted in the dismissal of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. Ajinkya Rahane got rid of both the batsmen with his accurate field placings to showcase his astuteness as a captain. When India lost the toss on a supposed flat wicket in Melbourne, it felt that Australia held the advantage. However, a fantastic exhibition of pace bowling by Jasprit Bumrah in which he picked up 4/56, backed by the guile of Ravichandran Ashwin and the fieriness of Mohammed Siraj saw India bowl Australia out for 195. Despite losing Mayank Agarwal for 0, Shubman Gill has shown confidence and he confidently helped India end day 1 on a high at 36/1. This scoreline is a much better reading than the one in Adelaide.
It was Jasprit Bumrah who started the slide when he removed Joe Burns for 0 with a delivery that nipped away. Matthew Wade looked to counterattack with some crisp boundaries off Umesh Yadav. However, the introduction of Ravichandran Ashwin changed the entire complexion of the Test match and ensured the scars of Adelaide were removed.
Ravichandran Ashwin had dismissed Steve Smith with a straight ball but in Melbourne, he got him with the offbreak. The ball gripped and turned as Steve Smith looked to turn it the leg side. But, Cheteshwar Pujara was stationed at leg slip and he managed to take the catch to send back Smith for 0 only for the second time since 2016. In the last three innings, Steve Smith has scores of 1,1* and 0. Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head tried to stop the bleeding as they stabilised the innings.
Labuschagne was looking solid and Travis Head was also giving him good support as they stitched a partnership in excess of 50. Just when Australia looked like they had stabilised the innings, Jasprit Bumrah returned and got the wicket of Head for 38. Sensing the opening, Rahane kept a fielder at shortish backward square leg as Labuschagne was sucked into the trap and he fell for 48, gifting Mohammed Siraj his first wicket. That opened the floodgates and the Indian bowlers ensured that Australia's tail, that had bailed them out of trouble in Adelaide, did not do an encore. Cameron Green fell to Siraj while Ashwin got his third when he dismissed Tim Paine, who had won the Man of the Match in Adelaide for his vital 73. Bumrah wrapped the tail up to finish with four wickets and yet again assert his status as the leader of the attack.
India started disastrously when Mayank Agarwal was trapped in front by a sharp inswinger from Mitchell Starc. However, Shubman Gill survived some nervy moments and India managed to get to stumps at 36/1, a far better scenario than the 36 in Adelaide.