Australia vs India 2018-19, Second Test: 5 Talking Points from Day 1 

The second of the four-match Domain Test series between Australia-India started off in fascinating fashion, with the hosts and the visitors taking turns to try and establish authority at different points in the game.

After the Aussie openers held center-stage with a century-stand, Indian bowlers were quick to respond with some wickets. This was followed by Marsh and Head staging a comeback, with India getting ahead eventually by sending them back to the hut.

Skipper Tim Paine and Pat Cummins saw through the remainder of the day with no further damage, and it can be said that the Aussies are narrowly ahead of the visitors, judging by their final scoreline of 277/6 in 90 overs, at Stumps on Day 1.

Mentioned and described below, are some of the key points to discuss, at the close of today's play.

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#1 First session goes the Aussie way

India's second-longest streak ever - for not conceding century opening stands, was brought forth to an end

Trailing the series 0-1 and batting first on a supposed green top in Perth's newly-constructed Perth Stadium (which is not the WACA as opposed to the misconception among many cricket followers), Marcus Harris and Aaron Finch did very well to craft the first century opening stand by any Test team against India in the past 46 innings.

Thus, India's second-longest streak ever - for not conceding century opening stands, was brought forth to an end.

It is hard to say who among Harris and Finch were more proactive in their approach. Regardless, both batsmen played well alongside each other, racking up 112 runs in 35 overs before Finch (50, 105balls, 6x4) was trapped in front by Bumrah, after a similar attempt in the previous ball.

Harris continued and eventually was caught at slips by Ajinkya Rahane off Hanuma Vihari. He had made 70 off 141 balls, including 10 fours.

The flourishing Perth wicket rarely showed signs of holding surprises, and the batsmen were able to score freely, especially the first 50 runs of their ton-stand.

Though India tightened the clasps, later on, they were set by then and the runs continued to come in. It took some clever bowling changes and a tinge of doubting shadows cast on Finch's head by Bumrah's varying lengths, to finally create a dent

#2 India storm their way back in Session 2

India did manage to get somewhat of a hold back in the game, strengthened further by Handscomb's dismissal at the beginning of the third session

As mentioned above, Finch's fall was the first and much-needed break for the Indian bowlers. Early on, the new-ball bowlers strangely found it beyond them to pitch the ball in the right areas, with the exception of Shami who remained unfortunate to not feature in the "wickets" column in the initial stages itself.

Replacing Finch was Usman Khawaja, who continued his non-satisfactory run from the second innings at Adelaide, making just 5 off 37 balls before he edged Umesh Yadav to Pant.

Three overs later, Marcus Harris the other opener also departed to the hut, Hanuma Vihari's bounce doing the trick by tempting him to play it straight into Rahane's hands at first slip.

The Aussies scored 79 runs in the second session, but as opposed to their unbeaten session one, this time it was at the expense of three quick wicket losses - two of which were the set batsmen.

With that, India did manage to get somewhat of a hold back in the game, strengthened further by Handscomb's dismissal at the beginning of the third session.

#3 Questions over India's Team selection

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Initial reports and photos and whatnot from Perth were completely about how green the pitch was, some even going on in willful exaggeration, that the pitch cannot be distinguished from the outfield.

But all such statements aside, it was still expected that the Perth wicket would assist the fast-bowling kind more than any other sect of cricketers, and India went on to omit spinners from their starting XI, going with four pacers as the main bowling options.

Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami retained their spots from Game one, while Umesh Yadav came in for Ashwin who was out due to a back strain.

It was expected that Jadeja would be the ideal replacement to the off-spinner, not only adding depth to batting but also turning up with some spin-bowling of his own.

But Kohli decided to field an extra pacer instead, to try and take advantage of the "green surface".

To put it kindly, the plan backfired a bit, as the pitch did next to nothing to assist the Indian speedsters.

Moreover, Hanuma Vihari - designated as "part-timer" initially - ended the day bowling 14 overs and emerging the pick of the lot with two wickets - both of them vital ones too (Harris and Shaun Marsh).

Had it not been for the youngster, India may have as well acknowledged already that the match has gone out of their hands

#4 Marsh and Head save hosts from a potential meltdown

Marsh and Head made a valuable stand, just when Australia were at a critical juncture

Shaun Marsh and Travis Head joined hands at the fall of the fourth Aussie wicket immediately after tea. Head hit the first ball of the partnership, to the fence and set the tone for what followed for the next 22 overs.

Luckily for Marsh, he was dropped on 24 runs by Rishabh Pant, when the former tried to cut and instead got a thin edge.

The fresh lease of life added renewed vigour in the elder of former Aussie national Geoff Marsh's sons, and he went on to add another 21 runs to his individual score in 36 more balls.

Travis Head, meanwhile, has looked in fine nick since Adelaide, where he made 86 runs across two innings.

He repeated his run with the willow by making another 58 (80 balls, 6x4) before departing as the last wicket of the day.

While both batsmen were around at the middle, Marsh and Head made a valuable stand, just when Australia were at a critical juncture, having lost four quick wickets while making just 36, and staring at the face of a potential meltdown.

The partnership ended 16 runs short of a hundred when Vihari performed his second act of the day.

The youngster had been persistent with his lines all day and forced Marsh to repeat the shot that saved him earlier at the expense of Pant. Only that this time, he was caught properly by Rahane, to mark the end of his innings (45 of 98, 6x4)

#5 India's strategy against the tail holds the key

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Apart from having the host-advantage among others, the Australian tail-enders have one other point to benefit from - them being better with the bat compared to their Indian counterparts.

Australia lost their fifth wicket at 251 runs, after which Tim Paine and Pat Cummins saw through a fiery late spell by Jasprit Bumrah, who maintained a tight line and length. The duo has also accumulated an unbeaten 26 so far and will look to add to it tomorrow.

After them, we'll see the likes of Starc and Lyon, who have also been solid with the bat, as displayed in many previous encounters.

Starc once scored 99 against India while Lyon nearly took Adelaide's contest in favour of the Kangaroos.

Australia thus have a better lower-order compared to that of India's, and the game may witness a unique battle in terms of their batting, in the days to come.

Meanwhile, reports from the venue point towards a modifying behaviour from the pitch surface, with indications of quickening up, providing more assistance to bowlers on Day 2.

Kohli and co. may thus look to use that to their advantage, and clean up the Australian tail as early as possible, given how ominous they can possibly turn out to be