Tensions boil over late on day one of first Test as tourists bowled out for 185, Australia lose late wicket

After tearing through India’s batting order, it was Australia’s turn to face the music late on day one at the SCG. And the Sam Konstas-Jasprit Bumrah battle delivered in a feisty finish.

Sam Konstas was stared down by Jasprit Bumrah and taunted by his Indian teammates as tempers flared in a wild finale to day one at the SCG.

Having bowled India out for 185, Australia lost Usman Khawaja after the clock had ticked past 6pm in Sydney as the veteran edged Bumrah to KL Rahul at second slip for two.

Khawaja had clearly been trying to waste time to ensure there was no additional over, a move that irked stand-in captain Bumrah. Konstas bit back at the stand-in Indian skipper, forcing the intervention of umpire Sharfuddoula.

India had the last laugh though in what was an extraordinary denouement to a day that had largely belonged to the Aussies.

After the wicket fell, Bumrah turned to confront Konstas while Indian paceman Prasidh Krishna howled in the teenager’s face and an animated Virat Kohli charged in Konstas’ direction.

Australia was 1-9 at stumps after routing India for 185.

Konstas charged down the wicket to belt the first ball of Australia’s innings to the mid-wicket boundary for four off Bumrah but that was nothing compared to what would follow in the final over.

The young opener had clearly got under India’s skin on debut at the MCG and that may have been just the start of things.

Sam Konstas (L) and India’s captain Jasprit Bumrah (R) share words late on day one. Picture: Getty

“Yeah, I’m not really sure. It was an interesting one,” debutant Beau Webster said when asked about Konstas’ interactions with Bumrah.

“I was just sitting next to Heady (Travis Head) in the rooms watching on the TV and the first ball when he ran down and clipped him over mid-wicket. It almost wasn’t a surprise anymore. It was just a bit like, there he is, he’s away.

“Sammy, he’s a very confident young man. And that’s what they do these days these youngsters, they sort of get in, get after it and put themselves out there and you know, he’s got all the skills and all the talent to back it up so hopefully he has a really good day tomorrow and puts a few runs on the board and gets us into a decent position.”

Indian gloveman Rishabh Pant said he believed Australia had been trying to waste time.

“I feel that they had a little chit chat,” Pant said.

“They wanted to waste some time. I feel that was the reason he had a conversation with Jassy (Bumrah). He said something, I didn’t hear it, but I feel that’s the only thing which he wanted to do to waste some time so we don’t bowl one more over.”

Pace bowler Scott Boland said it was clear Konstas was irking the Indian players.

“He’s playing with a lot of flair and definitely he’s under their skin, you can see that in the last few moments there,” Boland said on Fox Cricket.

“Hopefully he can go tomorrow and bat big.”

Mitchell Starc had earlier powered through the pain barrier and defied his history of late-series struggles to pick up 3-49, bettered only by Boland who charged to 50 Test wickets with a sublime haul of 4-31 from 20 overs.

It could and probably should have been even better for Boland, who had Ravindra Jadeja dropped on three by Steve Smith at second slip. Boland had also been the bowler when Smith’s deft flick to Marnus Labuschagne at gully was deemed by third umpire Joel Wilson to have come after the ball touched the ground from what was the first delivery faced by Kohli.

Smith made no mistake in the final session of the day however when he snaffled Nitish Kumar Reddy for a golden duck in the cordon to leave Boland on a hat-trick, narrowly survived by Washington Sundar.

Boland had eventually picked up Kohli for 17, one of two catches taken for the day by Webster.

The Tasmanian all-rounder missed out on a wicket, having had Jadeja dropped on five by Nathan Lyon at gully.

Pant (40) was another to fall to Boland. Having borne the brunt of an uncharacteristically bouncy Sydney wicket, the wicketkeeper mis-timed a pull to be caught at mid-on by Pat Cummins.

Pant was emblematic of an Indian side caught in two minds, trying to bat more conservatively than had been the case at times in Melbourne but unable to strike the right balance between defence and attack.

India claimed captain Rohit Sharma had been rested rather than dropped for the series finale. He was one of two changes to the side, with paceman Krishna recalled for the injured Akash Deep.

But even without the struggling Rohit, India’s revamped top order was unable to fire in a match the tourists need to win to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (10), Rahul (four) and the returning Shubman Gill (20) all fell in the first session after India won the toss and elected to bat.

Relive the day 1 action in our live blog below

Originally published as Tensions boil over late on day one of first Test as tourists bowled out for 185, Australia lose late wicket