Bumrah, Ashwin take control as Australia tumble on day one

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Bumrah and Ashwin claimed seven wickets between them, as no batsman from Australia managed to cross the 50-run mark. Marnus Labuschagne came the closest with a 132-ball 48, but the rest of the hosts' lineup struggled against India's skillful and disciplined bowling display.

Electing to bowl first, Australia did not have the best of starts at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Joe Burns could not follow up on his unbeaten 51 from the first game, falling after playing out nine dot balls. Matthew Wade, his opening partner, had a slightly better day.

Batting on his 33rd birthday, Wade put on 30 runs before falling to Ashwin in the 13th over. The off-spinner looked in supreme touch then, dismissing the dangerous Steve Smith for a duck in his next over. Ashwin has now dismissed the No.1 batsman in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings five times in 20 innings.

Labuschagne and Travis Head then did well to mitigate the early fall of wickets, guiding the hosts from 38/3 to 124/3. Labuschagne displayed heaps of resistance, navigating through blows on the helmet, rippers from the pacers and DRS calls. Head, too, fought quite a bit in his 92-ball 38, before Bumrah finally broke the 86-run stand.

The moment of the game for Test debutant Mohammad Siraj came two overs before lunch. He claimed his maiden Test wicket in the 50th over, and it was a big one – Labuschagne flicked one to backward square leg to Shubman Gill, who did well to hold on to a low catch.

Australia offered little to no resistance after tea, as three wickets fell for nine runs. Tim Paine and Cameron Green both fell with the scoreboard on 155, before Starc was dismissed by Bumrah for seven.

Nathan Lyon offered a little entertainment – and important runs for Australia – at No.10, hitting two fours and a six before falling to Bumrah for a 17-ball 20.

India played out 11 overs to end the day, with Shubman Gill (28*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (7*) in the middle. Australia managed to pull one back with the early wicket of Mayank Agarwal, who was dismissed by Mitchell Starc in the first over of the innings for a duck.