Australia vs India 2018-19, 1st Test: 5 talking points from Day 2

#4. Australian batsmen throwing away their good starts

Australians failed to capitalize on their starts

Among the four batsmen who reached double-figures for the hosts were Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb, all of them in the top-order. And for Australia to emerge clear leaders in the first innings, it was essential that at least a couple of top order batsmen stayed on for as long as they could.

Harris, on his debut, looked comfortable enough during his stay - even against the likes of Ashwin, who is one of the most experienced spinners in the circuit right now. On more than one occasion he shifted to his backfoot to drive Ashwin through the covers, and that was really encouraging for the Aussie camp.

But when Ashwin changed his length up a bit and started attacking the stumps, Harris merely tried to repeat the shot and edged straight to slip.

A similar situation happened with Khawaja as well, again with Ashwin - after the former had played down nearly 21 overs by himself to make 28 runs. Khawaja played a needless shot, and the ball caught his bat by the turn and flew straight to Rishabh Pant.

Up next was Handscomb, who was Australia's top scorer until Travis Head overtook him at a later stage. Handscomb fell prey to Bumrah while trying to run down a back-of-the-length ball, again to Pant.

Had any one or more of these batsmen prevailed at the crease for a bit longer, it might have done a lot to raise the hosts' hopes of opening the series with a win.