Virat Kohli
India lost their fourth wicket on Day 1 in the form of a well-set Virat Kohli who was eyeing his 71st international ton. The Indian skipper was involved in a mix-up with his deputy, Ajinkya Rahane, leading to his dismissal on 74.
Rahane drove the ball to the left of mid-off and started to run. Kohli, in response, started running immediately but Rahane decided to bail out. Running from the non-striker's end, Kohli was left stranded in the middle as Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon completed the run out to hand India a massive blow.
Rahane apologized to Kohli after the run-out as the latter was just 26 runs shy of levelling Ricky Ponting's record of 71 international hundreds. Kohli, however, refrained from showing any emotions and walked back quietly after the mishap.
Earlier in the day, India were struck with an early blow after electing to bat first. Opener Prithvi Shaw, continuing his woeful form with the bat, was bowled by Mitchell Starc's swinging delivery. Cheteshwar Pujara and Mayank Agarwal tried to steady India's ship but the latter was dismissed on 17 by Pat Cummins.
After losing both the openers, India were bolstered by skipper Kohli and Pujara, who stitched a 68-run partnership to help the visitors reach the 100-run mark. After Kohli's departure in the third session, the Indian batting unit suffered a collapse as they Rahane (42) and Hanuma Vihari (16) in quick succession. The scoreboard read 207/6 after Vihari's dismissal.
