KEY MOMENTS
A brief summary of how the opening day of the final Test between India and Australia panned out at Dharamsala.
KOHLI MISSES TEST
As the morning of the Test dawned, Indian fans were on tenterhooks regarding the injury status of Virat Kohli. However, with 30 minutes to go for the toss, their worst fears came true. Kohli had failed to recover from the shoulder injury and was ruled out. This was the first time Kohli had missed a Test due to injury. Since the West Indies series in November 2011, he had played 54 consecutive Tests before the game in Dharamsala.
SMITH, INDIA’S NO.1 TORMENTOR
India must be sick of the sight of Steve Smith scoring tons of runs against them. In 2014/15, he smashed four centuries and went past 700 runs in the series against India Down Under. In this series, he smashed 109 and 178* in Pune and Ranchi. In Dharamsala, he completed his third ton.
KOHLI THE 12TH MAN
In the sixth over of the innings, the crowd let out a huge cheer as Kohli came out during the drinks break to give a pep talk. During the lunch break, Kohli was again out on the field sprinting with Jayant Yadav. The sight of Kohli running out to be with the team despite not playing lifted the mood.
FIRST BALL DROP
If there was drama before the start, there was drama on the first ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar opened the bowling to David Warner. The first ball was full and swung away late, luring Warner into a big drive. Warner got a thick outside edge but Karun Nair, stationed at third slip, dropped it.
KULDEEP YADAV RIPS THROUGH
Never has a chinaman bowler played for India in Tests. Kuldeep Yadav, the 288th player to represent the country, set that right. He picked up a wicket in just his 25th ball as he got rid of Warner. He jumped in joy and cried too. He went on to take three more wickets to finish with figures of 4/68. After picking the prized scalp of Warner, he broke Handscomb’s timber with a beautiful delivery that dipped and turned.