Australia star sets unwanted record as India Test series begins with pure chaos
Runs were clearly not on the menu in the opening day of the first Test between Australia and India.
Instead, wickets were the meal of choice as Australia bowled India out for a measly 150 before tea at Perth Stadium.
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However, it was India who ended day one in the box seat thanks to the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah on a chaotic opening day.
The Indian bowler enjoyed a stunning spell of three wickets for just nine runs from six overs, as Australia made it to stumps sitting precariously at 7/67 and trailing by 83 runs, with Alex Carey (19*) and Mitchell Starc (6*) at the crease.
Bumrah ultimately finished the opening day with figures of 4/17 and would have had a fifth were it not for Virat Kohli dropping an absolute sitter.
Having dismissed Test debutant Nathan McSweeney for 10 in the third over, Bumrah thought he'd snared a second wicket in the space of three deliveries when Marnus Labuschagne edged the ball to Kohli in the slips.
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The ball nestled in Kohli's hands as Bumrah and his teammates wildly celebrated.
But Kohli was unmoved and revealed he'd somehow dropped the ball, with replays showing it had remarkably fallen from his grasp at the last second.
Speaking on Australian sports radio channel SEN, commentator Gerard Whateley couldn't believe what he'd seen from the Indian icon.
"It's a terrible drop by Kohli," Whateley said.
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"It's the sort of dropped catch that adds to the narrative of the ageing player whose eye isn't what it used to be."
Bumrah soon struck twice in the seventh over when opener Usman Khawaja edged his teasing delivery to Kohli and exited for 8.
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Steve Smith was next in as he returned to his preferred spot at fourth in the order having spent time as an opener in the wake of David Warner's retirement.
But he was trapped LBW with the very first ball he faced to leave Australia at 3/19.
It was the fourth time in Smith's last six Tests he'd been dismissed via LBW.
Travis Head (11) and Mitchell Marsh (6) were the next to go as the hosts simply could not gain a foothold on a tricky and bouncy Perth wicket.
Labuschagne also failed to make the most of his second life as he mustered just two runs from 52 deliveries.
It meant his strike rate of 3.84 set a new record for the lowest by an Australian player in a Test innings, having faced a minimum of 50 deliveries.
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Australia's horrendous day at the crease was in complete contrast to their performance with the ball in hand.
Aussie pace duo Josh Hazlewood and Starc combined to clean up India's top order and left the visitors reeling as they lost four wickets for 47 runs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal were both dismissed for ducks while opener KL Rahul departed for 26 from 74 deliveries.
Kohli, for so long the team's go-to man when in need of runs, floundered.
Kohli lasted just 12 deliveries and made five runs as he failed to deal with a short ball from Hazlewood and edged it to Khawaja in the slips.
"Rarely seen Virat Kohli play a more anxiety-ridden knock in Australia than this one," cricket journalist Bharat Sundaresan
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"Edgy, nervy and just never looked settled. Almost too desperate."
Luckily for the visitors, their middle order provided some much-needed stability via wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy as they combined for 38 until the former exited for 37.
Kumar Reddy went on to make 41 from 59 deliveries and was the last wicket to fall.
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Remarkably, every Indian player was caught by an Australian player behind the stumps.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey caught four of them while the others were taken by the slip cordon.
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