Australia bowlers put hosts ahead in spite of late Bumrah hitback
Jasprit Bumrah claims a wicket off the final ball of play though Australia enjoy the better day one in Sydney.
By Daniel Beswick at the SCG
Jasprit Bumrah's wicket of Usman Khawaja off the last ball of play capped off an eventful opening day of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Test in Sydney.
Having dismissed India for 185 late in the final session, Australia came in to bat in the closing minutes on Friday.
Sam Konstas laid down a marker at the Sydney Cricket Ground, charging down the pitch and hitting Bumrah for a boundary off the first ball of Australia's reply late on day one.
The Indian skipper though gave the visiting side something to cheer about as he managed to induce an outside edge off Khawaja, safely pouched by KL Rahul in the slip cordon.
Despite the early wicket, the host's fast bowlers had done enough during the day to hand Australian the upper hand in Sydney.
A disciplined effort from the Australian quicks restricted India, with Scott Boland the pick of the bowlers, claiming a four-wicket haul, including two wickets in quick succession in the final session.
Boland broke Rishabh Pant's resistance with a short ball, luring the left-hander into top-edging a pull shot, which was taken by Pat Cummins at short mid-wicket. It was followed by another breakthrough off the next delivery, as Nitish Kumar Reddy nicked behind to Steve Smith at first slip.
Shortly afterwards, Mitchell Starc then brought Jadeja's gritty stand to an end as the left-arm quick trapped the Indian all-rounder plumb. Washington Sundar, who had scored a vital half-century in Melbourne, was the next to fall. The southpaw, originally deemed not-out for a caught-behind appeal, was eventually dismissed after the third umpire ruled there was enough evidence of the ball taking a deflection off Sundar's gloves on its way to Alex Carey.
Starc then, returned to claim his third wicket, getting rid of Prasidh Krishna. Taking over the captaincy for the final Test, Jasprit Bumrah (22) added late runs to the total before he was removed by his Australian counterpart to wrap up the Indian innings.
Earlier, Pant alongside Jadeja had moved the score past three figures in a second session rebuild on day one. At one stage 72/4 after the loss of Virat Kohli (17), Pant (40) had been watchful at a strike rate just over 40, with Jadeja (26) also grinding in the batting response.
Kohli was the fourth player to depart for India, edging to Beau Webster off the bowling for Scott Boland's second wicket of the contest, though his stay at the crease was an eventful one, surviving a first-ball scare when a potential catch was sent upstairs to the third umpire.
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Reviewing the combined effort of a sprawling Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, Joel Wilson deemed the ball touched the ground in the process of Smith trying to keep the catching chance alive, and thus not satisfying the conditions of a fair catch.
In the morning session, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon had claimed wickets, removing KL Rahul (four) and Shubman Gill (20).
Boland's impact as Australia's first-change bowler was immediate, forcing a Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) edge to Australian debutant Beau Webster for his first contribution as a Test cricketer.
Kohli made it to the lunch break, losing Gill with the final ball of the session, though also found himself edging to Webster, who took a sharp catch to his left to bring out Jadeja.
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Most of the attention of Sydney's Friday morning has been centred around India's camp, with confirmation at the toss of Rohit Sharma's omission from India's XI in the quest to level the series, and claim the 12 World Test Championship points to keep their slim hopes of a Lord's final alive.
It was Jasprit Bumrah in the captain's blazer, electing to bat after winning the toss in spite of both overcast skies and a Sydney wicket a little greener in colour than previous Tests at the venue.
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Bumrah stated Sharma had "opted" to be rested for the Test and was replaced by Shubman Gill, while Akash Deep (back) was replaced by Prasidh Krishna in the XI.
Australia had confirmed their XI a day before play, with Webster handed national Test cap 469.
Australia XI: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
India XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.