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Matthew Kuhnemann claimed his first international five-wicket haul and Usman Khawaja hit 60 with the bat to put Australia firmly in control after the first day of the third Test against India.
Left-arm spinner Kuhnemann claimed career-best figures of 5-16 as Australia bowled out India for 109, after the home team won the toss and elected to bat first.
India lost seven wickets in a busy morning session before Khawaja led the tourists to 156-4 in reply, with Peter Handscomb seven not out at the close of the game and Cameron Green not out on six.
Marnus Labuschagne (right) and Usman Khawaja (left) moved Australia on top with a second-wicket partnership.
“It’s a very friendly wicket outside,” Khawaja said. “It’s difficult to play and it won’t get better. I had a challenging time throughout.”
How Australia dominated day one
Rohit Sharma looked out twice in the first over, caught behind and lbw, but umpire Nitin Menon was unmoved as Australia opted not to again on both occasions.
Kuhnemann eventually got Sharma stumped for 12 before Shubman Gill was caught at slip for 21. Nathan Lyon (3-35) then bowled Cheteshwar Pujara for one as the ball began to turn sharply, with Ravindra Jadeja caught at cover for four.
Matthew Kuhnemann’s figure is a career best in first-class cricket
India slumped to 45-5 when Shreyas Iyer was bowled for a duck, going for an expansive cut, and although Virat Kohli batted carefully to score 22 from 52 balls it finally fell to spinner Todd Murphy.
Srikar Bharat was lbw to Lyon for 17 as India reached lunch on 84-7, with things not getting any better for the hosts after the interval as Ravichandran Ashwin was caught behind for three off Kuhnemann.
Kuhnemann added his fifth wicket when he trapped Umesh Yadav lbw for 17, and the innings ended when Mohammed Siraj was run out for a duck.
Australia lost an early wicket when Travis Head was trapped lbw for nine by spinner Jadeja, who also bowled Marnus Labuschagne off a no-ball before the Australian No 3 escaped a good lbw shout from Ashwin.
Labuschagne then shared a stand of 96 with Khawaja, who was the pick of the batsmen on both sides, before falling to Jadeja for 31.
India will be looking for quick wickets early in day two to force their way back into the Test
Jadeja also stopped Khawaja when he had the opening batsman caught at deep midwicket. The Indian spinner finished with 4-63 after Steve Smith was also caught behind for 26.
An unfair fight? ‘It’s a riot’
The first two matches of the four-Test series were played on the track and India completed victories over three days in Nagpur and Delhi, ensuring they would retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, while the pitch used for this Test drew widespread criticism after 14 wickets fell on the opening day. .
“It was chaos,” former Australian Test player Mark Waugh said Fox Sports. “The schedule is not up to Test standards, I think it’s fair.
“The ball goes over the top (layer) in the first 20 minutes of a Test match, that’s not good enough.”
Former team-mate Matthew Hayden said the field was heavily biased towards spinners.
“It doesn’t have to be a spin bowler’s paradise, it doesn’t have to go down and be a mile on day one,” he said. “You have been allowed to have a Test match for four or five days! If you don’t just call it as it is, we will only play for three days.”
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