India fend off rearguard to go 1-0 up in Adelaide

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Australia's last four wickets contributed 107 on Monday, 10 December, with Nathan Lyon's 38* off 47 from No.10 prompting some especially nervous moments for the Indians and raising the hosts' hopes of a famous fightback. But Ravichandran Ashwin floated one outside off, Josh Hazlewood went for the drive and KL Rahul took a good low catch at second slip to spark jubilation among Virat Kohli and his men.

It was, after all, only their sixth ever Test win in Australia, and keeps them on course for their first ever series win in the country.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who followed up his hundred in the first innings with a solid 71 in the next, was named Player of the Match. India also had a combined effort from the bowlers to thank, as they worked hard to bowl out Australia for 291 in the second hit. Ashwin sent down 52.5 overs for three wickets in Australia's second innings, while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami also took three each.

Australia started the day on 104/4 and 219 behind, with Travis Head and Shaun Marsh in the middle, but the association didn’t last long, as Ishant Sharma surprised Head with a bouncer.

Marsh stuck it out for a fighting half-century, but became Bumrah’s first wicket. Bowling from around the wicket, Bumrah got one to straighten and drew an outside edge to the wicket-keeper. Soon after lunch, Tim Paine became Bumrah’s second, top-edging an attempted pull to a short ball.

Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins offered the spectators some entertainment and frustrated the Indians with a 41-run stand that took the home side to within 95 runs of victory, before Lyon swung his bat some more.

There was relief in the Indian camp when Starc edged a wide delivery from Shami to Rishabh Pant, giving the wicket-keeper a record 11 catches for the match – joint with Jack Russell and AB de Villiers.

Kohli went for an extended second session in the hope of wrapping up the match, but Lyon, who struck three fours in a remarkable knock, threatened to pull off something special. It was, however, not to be.

Earlier, Pujara’s 123 had lifted India to 250 after a top-order wobble. Australia responded with 235, conceding a slight lead, but a strong batting performance from the tourists took them to 307 and helped post a target of 323.

The second Test starts on Friday in Perth.