Australia vs India: Wickets tumble on day one of fifth Test as hosts dominate with ball in Sydney

Australia dominated day one of the fifth and final Test against India in Sydney as they bowled the visitors out for 185 to inch closer to a series victory.

Scott Boland took 4-31 – at one point finding himself on a hat-trick – as Australia, having lost the toss, took advantage of helpful bowling conditions on a green-tinged SCG pitch.

Despite a reshuffle to the batting order, with captain Rohit Sharma sitting out the final Test after a poor run of form, India were again bundled out cheaply, failing to pass 200 for the fifth time in the series.

Rishabh Pant’s 40 provided the only real resistance but he and Nitish Kumar Reddy, who scored a maiden Test century in the fourth match in Melbourne, then departed to back-to-back Boland deliveries.

Stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah (1-7) did at least provide a spark late in the day, dismissing Usman Khawaja (2) – caught at slip – with the final ball of the evening, to make up for his curious call at the toss and continue his remarkable form for the series, in which he now has 31 wickets at an average of 12.64.

Australia – who lead 2-1, hoping to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in 10 years – closed the day 9-1 in their first innings, trailing by 176.

As the bowlers dominated the early exchanges of the Test, Mitchell Starc (3-49) provided the opening breakthrough as KL Rahul (4) chipped a simple catch to Sam Konstas at square-leg in the fifth over of the morning.

Boland was then introduced into the attack and only needed four balls at Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) before the young opener edged a ball through to debutant Beau Webster at third slip.

That brought Virat Kohli, the series’ pantomime villain, to the crease. Kohli was greeted by boos from many in the the SCG crowd, stemming from his deliberate shoulder bump on Konstas on the opening morning of the Boxing Day Test for which he was later fined.

Fittingly, his first ball was the most dramatic of the session as Boland drew the edge, with Steve Smith seemingly palming a relay catch to Marnus Labuschagne in the slips, sparking wild celebrations – only for the catch to be overturned by third umpire Joel Wilson, with replays suggesting the ball touched the grass as it came out of Smith’s hand.

As lunch approached, Nathan Lyon (1-19) tempted Shubman Gill (20) into an edge through to Smith to see India end the session in trouble at 57-3, while Kohli’s (17) luck didn’t extend much further after the break as there was no doubt this time about his edge off Boland through to Webster.

Pant, who was widely criticized after a pair of loose dismissals in Melbourne, survived a dropped chance on 19 off Webster, but again played an ill-advised big shot to hole-out off Boland, with Reddy edging the very next ball to Smith.

Boland couldn’t claim his hat-trick, but Starc picked up Ravindra Jadeja (26) lbw soon after to continue India’s slide.

Pat Cummins (2-37) removed Washington Sundar (14) with a somewhat contentious third umpire decision that ruled the ball had lightly brushed the batter’s glove on the way through to Alex Carey, despite inconclusive evidence.

Prasidh Krishna (3) became Starc’s third wicket when he holed-out to Konstas in the deep and Bumrah (22) skied a catch to Starc off Cummins to end the innings, before he himself struck late on for India.

A win for Australia at the SCG would book the team’s spot in a second-straight World Test Championship final where they’d face South Africa at Lord’s in June.