Ahmedabad: On a day where the two Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese was present at the venue, Australia ended the first day's of play on at 255/4 on a wicket which looked the best for batters among all the four surfaces witnessed in the series. Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first even as the first three matches of the series have been won by the team which has fielded first.
However, Australia made good use of the surface with opener Usman Khawaja leading the way, not for the first time in this series. The southpaw batted all day and eventually returned to the dressing room unbeaten on 104. The Day saw Australia lose two wickets in the first session but the Kangaroos played out the first wicketless session on the opening day of this series between Lunch to tea with Steve Smith looking set along with Khawaja. India's best chance in the match was post tea when they got the wickets of Smith and Peter Handscomb in quick interval.
However, their decision to take the new ball after the 81st over backfired as Australia suddenly found a new life in their innings with runs coming thick and fast. It was Cameron Green who took the attack to the opposition and remains not out on 49 off 64 deliveries as the touring party added 106 runs in the final session despite losing the two early wickets.
For India, fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 2 for 65. Ravichandran Ashwin (1 for 57) and Ravindra Jadeja (1 for 49) were the other wicket-takers for the hosts on the first day.
Meanwhile, before the start of the play both India and Australia's Prime Minister preseneted a special Test cap to India and Australia's captains respectively. The two leaders are here to celebrate 75 years of India-Australia relationship. This is the Aussie PM's first official visit to the country.