India made a bright start to the fourth Test, picking up eight Australian wickets on the first day, as the spinners ran riot yet again.
Australia ended the opening day's play on 231 for eight, and that was thanks largely to a bit of rearguard action from their tail-ender Peter Siddle, who hung in there with Steve Smith, and then took over the senior role once the Aussie batsman got out.
Australia were hamstrung by the fact that they were without captain Michael Clarke, who could not recover enough from the back problem to be included in the XI, which meant vice-captain Shane Watson would skipper the side for the first time.
"He (Clarke) was given until the last point to prove his fitness," Smith said. "Shane was given a little heads-up to say 'prepare mentally and get yourself ready, just in case I don't come up'.
"He in the end was in a bit too much pain to get into this match and there's a lot of big series coming up and he wants to get his body right and prepare well for them. They told us this morning.
"He (Clarke) was grabbing a few guys' gloves and giving them to the boys to run out. He was trying to do his part in the sheds like he always does. It's disappointing not to have him out there in this game."
Smith also felt the first day's score is not too bad considering the nature of the pitch, which is expected to get slower and lower with every passing day.
"That's probably not the day-one wicket that I'm used to playing on," Smith added. "It's broken up a fair bit to start up with. It's going to get tougher and tougher to bat throughout this match and 231 at the end of the day is not a bad day I don't think.
"Hopefully we can grind out another 50 or so tomorrow (Saturday) and I think that will be quite competitive as a first innings score on that wicket."
To watch India vs Australia Fourth Test Day 2 Live Streaming, click here.
