Verbal spat, belligerent Warner and gyrate Lyon spice up Adelaide Test - IBNLive

The Indian batting led by Virat Kohli was good enough to save the follow-on but just when a lot of Indian fans were queuing up to watch a "Rohit Sharma Special", as most us would like from him, India succumbed to a total well short of Australia on Day 4 of the first Test as the tail never really waged.

Nathan Lyon, who is turning out to be the Moeen Ali of Australia, struck early in the first session when he sent Rohit packing and Wridhimman Saha with his limited resources did his bit to take India as close as he possibly can to the Australian total before being controversially given out by umpire Ian Gould.

Mohammad Shami showed once again that he is no mug with the bat by hitting some lusty blows as Australia got more and more frustrated with his unorthodox style of batting.

Well, you are playing against Australia and a Test match is never over without a word or two flying in from the slip cordon. (Getty Images)

With a lead of 73 runs, Australia started off in similar fashion as both their openers went after the Indian bowling. David Warner always had a special liking for the Indian attack and whether it is a one-day, T20 or Test match it is more like a dress rehearsal for the Indian team after every innings, as all they do when Warner is batting is to fetch the ball from the boundary line.

Warner's knock in both the innings were nothing less than child abuse as he spanked the Indian attack like he is having a net session before a T20 match. Varun Aaron is a character in itself and cricket needs such characters as he is always in the game, sometimes by knocking off somebody's head; other times just by saying something.

But Warner is not a guy who is used to taking things lying down and when he was dismissed off a no ball, the Aussie opener came back almost mocking Aaron's celebration who had earlier cleaned him up off a gigantic illegal delivery.

And if you think this was the end of all the drama then you are living in world where cricket is still a gentleman's game. Rohit was appealing for a leg-before decision which did not impress Steven Smith and in turn got a strong reaction from the bowler, who yelled at Smith saying 'What' and was later backed up by the captain who told Smith to stay in his limits.

Earlier, Nathan Lyon had cleaned up the Indian tail by picking up a fifer and his bowling seemed to be far more effective than any of the spinners playing in this Test match. Lyon looked like picking up a wicket every over and seems to have come off age with his bowling improving in leaps and bounds with every passing Test match.

Australia would look to declare overnight and a couple of wickets early on in the session will put the cat among the pigeons, after all India has a history of making a dead Test match look interesting with all the intricacies required to make a "Bollywood" drama. And sledging? Well, you are playing against Australia and a Test match is never over without a word or two flying in from the slip cordon.