Collapse: Indian batting flounders again to get bowled out for 185

SYDNEY: Rohit Sharma “opted to rest” in the team’s interest but the same old script unfolded on a new day for Indian batters as they surrendered meekly for a paltry 185 in the face of some hostile seam bowling from Australia on the opening day of the fifth and final Test here.

Virat Kohli (17 off 69 balls), whose form and technical weaknesses are also under the scanner, was for the seventh time dismissed in the corridor of uncertainty in the tour, a problem that seems incurable at the moment.

At stumps, Australia was 9 for 1 with stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah sending the woefully out-of-form Usman Khawaja (2) back in the hut.

Teenage sensation Sam Konstas was unbeaten at 7 after hitting Bumrah for a first-ball four. The 19-year-old also had an animated exchange with the Indian star.

Bumrah opted to bat under overcast conditions and the ultra-defensive approach by Indian batters only compounded their problems with Scott Boland’s (20-8-31-4) immaculate length and tremendous discipline leaving them in a disarray.

Mitchell Starc (18-5-49-3) and Pat Cummins (15.2-4-37-2) were equally relentless giving the Indians no room for release shots.

If Rohit’s decision to “rest” was a forward thinking move, the persistence with Kohli is proving to be detrimental and the celebrated batter might just have one more Test innings left to save his place in the traditional format.

If one takes away the second innings hundred at Perth out of his last 20 Test innings, Kohli has managed an average of 17.57.

He could have been out off Boland’s first delivery but tried to battle hard. However, it has always been that one moment in which his hands and the willow magnetically follow a delivery in the corridor of uncertainty.

Having copped criticism from all quarters for his bizarre shot selection in Melbourne, Rishabh Pant (40 off 98 balls), for a change, copped body blows, trying to curb his natural game.

The big-hitter in him came out only on a couple of occasions with one of them fetching him a straight six off Beau Webster.

Pant put his head down and endured nasty blows on his bicep, helmet and twice in the sensitive abdominal area. He and the dogged Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 95 balls) defended dourly as they added 48 off 151 deliveries for the fifth wicket.

Only 50 runs were scored in the second session and trying not to be adventurous proved counter-productive with most batters retreating in a shell letting Boland and company dictate the terms of play.

Finally, Pant’s patience ran out and one pull shot too many became his undoing.

India realised it hasn’t scored enough runs and lost a lot of wickets. The defensive tactic in the second session when the ball got old ended up costing it dearly.

Brief scores: India (1st innings) 185 in 72.2 overs (R Pant 40, S Boland 4/31, M Starc 3/49) vs Australia (1st innings) 9/1 in three overs

HIGHLIGHTS

185 India's total on Friday is the second lowest by any team in the first innings of a Test match in Sydney since 2001.

8 All-out totals of 185 or less by India in Tests in 2024-25, the joint-most such totals for any team in a Test season.

376 India's total against Bangladesh in Chennai remains its highest first-innings total in 2024-25.

18.74 Average runs per wicket by India in the first innings of the Tests in the 2024-25 season.

2 Individual hundreds for India in its first innings in Tests in 2024-25: R Ashwin against Bangladesh in Chennai and Nitish Kumar Reddy against Australia in Melbourne.

12.6 Virat Kohli’s batting average in 2024-25 during the team’s first innings, the lowest for any top seven batter in a Test season, for a minimum of ten innings.

22 Jasprit Bumrah’s score on Friday is the highest by an Indian captain in this series.