Openers set India on Perth to glory

Jaiswal and Rahul hit patient fifties to raise an unbroken 172-run opening stand as India take control vs Australia in 1st Test

- Ashish Magotra

Seventeen wickets fell on a manic Day 1 in the first Test at Perth and then they dropped in a new pitch and all the spiciness simply disappeared. The bit about new pitch is not to be taken seriously but the wicket did settle down to such a degree that it is almost impossible to associate it with the monster that seemed to be eating batters for fun on Friday.

The beauty of Test cricket is in the changing conditions every day places different demands on both teams. If the bowlers had a ball on the first day, it was the batters who came into their own on the second as the pitch showed us a different face on Saturday.

With the sun beating down on it, all the moisture went out of the wicket and it became much better for batting. Australia hung around for a long time in the morning session to add 37/3 in 24.2 overs to start Day 2 off. They were eventually bowled out for 104. It is their second lowest in home Tests against India, after the 83 all out in Melbourne in 1981.