Virat Kohli fell for three in the first innings of the Adelaide Test
Catches can win you matches and especially if it is Virat Kohli, it can well set you on course for a win. So what if it is the first innings of a Test match.
And on Thursday, the Australian team would definitely like to believe so as Usman Khawaja pulled off a stunner by diving to his left at gully to get rid of the Team India captain at the Adelaide Oval.
Cummins bowled one on a good length and outside off, Kohli went fishing for a drive and got a big fat outside towards gully. Khawaja, who was stationed there, dived to his stronger side and took a one-handed stunner to dismiss Kohli for 3.
This was the second time Kohli got out to Cummins and as of now, the 25-year-old has bowled four deliveries to him in Test cricket and got him out twice.
Kohli's wicket went hurt India bad after they lost their openers early. Ajinkya Rahane, who came out attacking, also followed suit as India were reeling at 41/4. However, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma saw off the rest of the session and went to lunch on 11 and 15 runs respectively when lunch was taken.
It was also the third catch taken by the home side on day one of the Test with Rahul and Vijay also falling to caught behinds. While Vijay's was a simple caught-behind to Tim Paine, Aaron Finch pulled off another sharp catch to affect India's first wicket.
Opting to bat, the visitors were off to a disastrous start as opener K.L. Rahul's (2) thick edge was superbly taken by Aaron Finch at third slip off a Josh Hazlewood delivery with just three runs on board.
Soon, Murali Vijay (11) also followed his partner after falling in the seventh over, leaving India at 15/2.
With the addition of just four runs in the visitor's scorecard, Kohli followed for three to deepen India's troubles.
Pujara and Rahane (13) then tried to put things back in control, adding 22 runs for the fourth wicket, however, Hazlewood struck again in the the 21st over to dismiss the latter.
Rohit and Pujara then saw out the rest of the session as India crept past the 50-run mark and finished the session at 56/4.
The duo looked solid after the break as well as Pujara looked to dig in and the Mumbaikar taking on the opposition as he reached 37 off 60 balls, hitting three sixes and two fours before attempting a silly shot and falling to Nathan Lyon to further deepen India's woes.
He tried to hit one out of the park and all he could do was hold out to Marcus Harris at deep square leg as India were reduced to 86/5.
(With inputs from IANS)
