A disciplined bowling attack by Australia left India at 56/4 at lunch on the first day of the first Test of the four-match series at the Adelaide Oval here on Thursday.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma were batting on 11 and 15 runs respectively when the break was taken.
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, pacer Pat Cummins gave a huge blow to India after packing back skipper Virat Kohli (3), thanks to a stunning catch by Usman Khawaja at gully.
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.
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Incoming batsman Rohit Sharma and Pujara then played some sensible cricket as India crept past the 50-run mark.
Brief score: India 56/4 (Rohit Sharma 15, Ajinkya Rahane 13; Josh Hazlewood 2/17) vs Australia at Lunch on Day 1
--IANS
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