Australia vs India: No Kohli, no problems as Australia produce 40-year low at the MCG on Boxing Day

Australia have produced their lowest first innings score after winning the toss and batting in the Boxing Day Test in over 40 years as India dominated in front of nearly 30,000 fans at the MCG. 

Seeing crowds back in Melbourne was a welcome sight for many as a sense of normality returned to the cricket calendar. 

However, any risk of a flat wicket and a batsman’s paradise disappeared early on with Australia’s top order struggling against the fantastic line and length from India’s seamers. 

Joe Burns fell for a duck and the run rate barely got above 2.5 an over as Jasprit Bumrah continued his love affair with the MCG. 

MORE: Tributes flow for Dean Jones on Boxing Day at the MCG

Debutant Mohammed Siraj was also incredibly impressive in his first Test outing for India as he showed composure and patience to frustrate the hosts. 

Australia finished all out on 195, just the tenth time they have been dismissed for less than 200 when winning the toss and batting at the MCG. 

It’s also the lowest score Australia have scored batting first at the MCG since 1986 where they were dismissed for 141 against England. 

A lot of the focus will be on Australia’s batters with not one able to post a half-century at the MCG. 

Marnus Labuschagne has backed Steve Smith and the rest of his teammates to fire again but that will be no easy task against an in-form Indian bowling attack. 

Bumrah and Siraj led the way with Ravi Ashwin again producing an incredible spell to spin a web around the Australians. 

But arguably more impressive was the stand-in captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane who set fields seemingly perfectly and changed bowlers exactly when they were needed. 

Rahane received plenty of praise for his tactics on day one of the Boxing Day Test and Bumrah believes leadership is not something India will lack this series even without Virat Kohli.

“There was a constant discussion going on between the bowlers and the other guys with the captain,” Bumrah told reporters post-match. 

“The wicket changed after the first session, it got better to bat on as the moisture went away 

“I just think adapting to the wicket and the lines that we wanted to bowl so we were just trying to communicate what kind of lengths we wanted to bowl so we could set the field accordingly. 

“We decided that everybody is going to help each other. 

“Siraj was making his debut, Umesh was there as well. Everybody was there so everybody has got a lot of experience in cricket.”

Despite losing the toss and being sent into bowl, India did not drop their heads and made the most of the early conditions. 

A bit of surface moisture on the pitch proved vital and it was one of the reasons Ashwin was introduced into the attack so early. 

After plenty of success in Adelaide, Ashwin followed that up with three more wickets on Boxing Day including the big scalp of Steve Smith. 

Bumrah credits decisions like Ashwin’s early injection into the attack as part of a positive mentality India are trying to adopt with their Test cricket. 

“When we were bowling in the morning, there was some moisture in the wicket,” Bumrah said. 

“As you saw, Ashwin, as well as Jadeja, brought some spin. 

“Because we wanted to make the most of the moisture, we were trying to use them and they were getting good bounce as well. 

“We’re not looking too far ahead, just looking one session at a time. 

“We’re looking at the thing we have to do. We don’t want to be conservative in our mindset we want to be positive. We want to control the controllable. 

“So we’re trying to be in that space, not being reckless but being confident.

“That is our motive going forward now.”

While Bumrah will take the headlines with his four wickets, the debut of Siraj should not be underplayed. 

He got his first wicket when Labuschagne helped one on to leg gully while he produced a brilliant bowling plan with a surprise in-swinger to dismiss Cameron Green. 

Labuschagne is looking forward to reigniting his battle with Siraj who expects to see play plenty more Test cricket in the future. 

“It was just a matter of getting into the battle,” Labuschagne said of facing Siraj. 

“He’s a little bit more of a swing bowler than a seam bowler but you saw about the 60th over…he actually got the ball to swing, he swung the ball away.

“We’ve just got to make sure we understand what they’re trying to do and combat that.”

India will resume day two on 1/36, just 159 runs behind Australia’s first innings total. 

You can catch all the action of the second Test between Australia and India LIVE on Kayo Sports.