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Norman Kochannek, Adelaide: Indian captain Virat Kohli showed true perseverance with a determined 74 that came to an end by an unnecessary and unfortunate runout robbing him of a certain century. True stoic old style test cricket was evidenced on Adelaide oval in the first of four test series in Australia. Crowd was meticulously spread throughout Adelaide oval to watch an epic test match unfold.

A somewhat mixed day of fortunes saw India win the toss and elect to bat.

A titanic struggle developed as India faced the might of the experienced Australian bowling attack losing Prithvi Shaw second ball to a false shot off Starc.

That unleashed a stoic battle between bat and ball as Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara batting with sheer grit and determination to survive the pink ball onslaught. Agarwal got out to a peach of a delivery from Pat Cummins. That saw Pujara and Kohli combine for a stellar  68 run partnership before Pujara was caught off Lyon for a solid 43.

Kohli was in control with Rahane and at 3 for 188 looked set for big scores. Disaster struck as Kohli was needlessly runout for 74 runs and Rahane and Vihari both fell LBW shortly after.

Saha and Ashwin played steadily to both finish not out with India 6 for 233 at stumps.

Starc bowled well with 2 wickets and Cummins, Hazelwood and debutant Green bowled miserly and Lyon took the crucial wicket of Pujara.  Let’s see how Australia respond in their innings tomorrow.

Points are even at the end of day one but have India scored enough and can they add more in the morning to allow their bowlers the chance to test Australia under the daynight and twilight conditions with a pink ball hooping around from the likes of Bumrah,Shami and Umesh Yadav.

Australia may yet struggle to reach this score.