Late wickets, Clarke's injury spoils a near perfect day for Australia - IBNLive

Adelaide Oval, for some reason has always produced great batting friendly conditions and the first Test match between Australia and India was no different. The pitch looked dry and with the sun beating down, whatever moisture there was early on vanished very quickly.

Michal Clarke won the toss and elected to bat first which was a no brainer, given the conditions but India struck early with Ishant Sharma in the first hour of the Test match. This was not before the opening pair had already put on a fifty-run stand in a little over seven overs and were looking ominous before a ball which pitched outside off-stump dragged Chris Rogers into the drive that took the outside edge and Shikhar Dhawan at second slip made no mistake.

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However, the point of debate would be to pick the leg-spinner Karn Sharma ahead of Ravindra Jadeja or R Ashwin. The pitch looked a very dry surface and it will only get drier as the game progresses. So the role of a spinner would become very important in the last two days of the Test match. Karn Sharma being a wrist spinner would extract more bounce from the track and going by the previous history in Australian conditions, it is not a bad call by any stretch of imagination.

Warner and Clarke made the visitors chase leather on a nice afternoon. Clarke played some delightful shots all around the wicket, Indians were reduced to a club level attack. (Getty Images)

Wrist spinners have shared a fair bit of success in these conditions and Ashwin's awful away record did not help either. Ravindra Jadeja is a defensive option as he is not going to give sleepless nights to anybody. At the most he can do the job of a containing bowler and so the selection of Sharma is an attacking move which can go either way. Leg-spinners have a trend of either picking up wickets or going for runs.

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David Warner all this while seemed to be batting on a different strip as he made mince meat of the Indian attack and was scoring at more than a run-a-ball. The runs were coming thick and fast and in an outfield which is lightning quick, it is only a matter of beating the inner ring of fielders.

Shane Watson has not had the best of outings in the recent past and with conditions favouring the batsmen, Watson would have been eyeing a big one but it was not to be as Varun Aaron had other ideas. The Indian seamer sent the Australian packing only when he was looking to get used to the conditions.

Watson had no one to blame but himself as he was looking to play the cut shot to a ball which was too close to his body and Dhawan again completed a nice catch at second slip. Clarke all this while must have been licking his fingers, given the kind of record he has against the Indians, and seemed to have started from where he left off when India toured Australia four years back.

With conditions favouring the hosts, Warner and Clarke made the visitors chase leather on a nice Tuesday afternoon. Clarke played some delightful shots all around the wicket and with no real help from the pitch, Indians were reduced to a club level attack.

Virat Kohli kept chopping and changing the bowlers but the rub of the green seemed to be going the Australian way. But an India-Australia series is never over without its share of drama as Michael Clarke succumbed to his chronic back injury that gave India the opening they were looking for in the second session.

Warner, then soon followed his captain who was retired hurt to the pavilion, trying to hit the debutant leg-spinner Karn Sharma out of the ground and was caught at deep mid-wicket, giving him his first Test wicket.

Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh stitched together a partnership before the latter was dismissed by Varun Aaron and Australia all of a sudden were losing the firm grip they had over the match. Mohammad Shami soon joined hands with the other bowlers to get India back on track as Australia ended the day on 354 for 6 with both sides in with a chance to get their noses ahead in the Test match.

India would look to finish the tail as early as possible on Day 2 and the first session on Wednesday might decide which way the Test match is going. India on the other hand need to bat well as a big first innings total will ensure the visitors of a result going in their favour. The history at the Adelaide Oval suggests that Day 2 and Day 3 are the best for batting and a positive frame of mind will do a world of good to their chances of making the hosts feel the pressure in their own den.