By Joel Dubber
PERTH (Reuters) -Australia removed Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal for ducks in a stunning morning session to leave India reeling on 51 for four at lunch on the opening day of the first test in Perth on Friday.
The tourists, who won the toss, omitted spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in favour of Washington Sundar, with the new-look side also missing regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who recently welcomed his second child, and an injured Shubman Gill.
Padikkal endured 23 balls on a probing length before nicking paceman Josh Hazlewood to keeper Alex Carey, bringing Virat Kohli to the crease and, with him, the loudest cheers of the morning.
It took an hour for KL Rahul (26) to hit his first boundary, accidentally edging a short Pat Cummins delivery while trying to leave, as Australia strangled the tourists for space in conditions conducive to seamers.
In the 17th over Hazlewood earned the wicket of veteran Kohli (five), who has not scored a century in 16 months, with a gem which reared up and flew off the edge to first slip.
The carnage continued when Starc picked up his second wicket on review, a disgruntled Rahul forced to depart after the third umpire judged that the ball was edged to Carey before bat brushed pad.
Rishabh Pant and Dhruv Jurel entered the lunch break unbeaten on 10 and four.
(Reporting by Joel Dubber in Perth; Editing by Peter Rutherford )
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.
