Kohli in command but falls to his deputy’s vice

Virat Kohli bats with serenity but Aussies capitalise on big error to tip match in their favour.

India's captain Virat Kohli plays a defensive shot at Adelaide Oval Picture: AFP

Accidents will happen, Mr Micawber reminded us, in the best-regulated families. And two experienced by Virat Kohli on Thursday defined the first day of the renewed contest for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Since arriving on this truncated visit, Kohli has projected a disarmingly mellow, even friendly air, speaking respectfully of his hosts, maturely of his responsibilities – too matey for some, who hanker for some of his old youthful panache and combative edge.

He has formed a mutual admiration society with Steve Smith. Borat could turn up to one of his press conferences (“That cover drive make me have romance explosion”) and Kohli would hardly miss a beat.

Day one removed any sense of fading commitment. The bottle was new, the Kohli vintage.

The innings ended up being framed by two errors of the kind that in our modern, hyper-professionalised times should hardly happen – although they did, perhaps, because the players have gone so long without the peculiar complexities of Test cricket.

On 16, Kohli profited from an Australian DRS blink. It was not a gaffe of the kind with which Tim Paine has previously been associated; it was a hesitation, almost of politeness, nobody wanting to be too pushy about the possibility of a nick down leg side.

For a time, it looked disastrous, as Kohli played wonderfully. Everything extraneous was shut-out, every fibre directed at a match-defining hundred. Even the leaves – and these were plentiful – were full of purpose, reinforcing his own sense of control, like that of a thoroughly reformed smoker no longer tempted by proximity of a packet of cigarettes.

Every now and again, there was a glimpse of the former thrill seeker, such as pull shots off Starc in front of square and off Hazlewood behind square in consecutive overs after tea; but even these were brought to ground. A cover drive off Lyon was imperious, yet also orthodox, with none of the usual wristy flourish.

Watch Australia v India Test Series Live & Ad-Break Free During Play with the Fox Cricket commentary team. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

Then, a culpable error by Kohli’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, a skittish runner prone to taking a few anxious steps down the pitch in such a way as to draw partners on.

Challenging the fielder in Test cricket requires a quite different calculus to that in short-form cricket. Sometimes in limited overs a batsman is worth sacrificing for the disruption caused by slick running between wickets.

But cricket crimes don’t come more heinous than surrendering a Test wicket for the sake of a single – let alone that of a captain, on 74, who is about to go home, from whom you are about to take over. The dressing room might have seen a flash of the old Kohli.

Earlier, Australia had toiled hard to remove Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s immaculate bulwark. Hazelwood from over the wicket and Starc from round posted a leg gully, a short leg and a mid-wicket. Cummins probed away at a fullish length and exacting pace; Pujara was content to soak it up.

Virat Kohli is left stranded by Ajinkya Rahane as Nathan Lyon whips off the bails Picture: Getty Images

The quality of the spell was attested when Cummins finally got a look at Mayank Agarwal and blew him away first ball.

Only after the first break did Pujara look anything other than entirely self-contained, when Nathan Lyon menaced his gloves with bounce, spin, short leg, leg slip and silly point. An inside edge flew past that last fielder’s right hand; Pujara drove for three, with the slightest hint of looseness.

After that, as he did a couple of years ago, Pujara used his feet and protective gear, coming out as if to scotch a spider. Four times the ball ballooned from the front pad. There were strangled cries, stifled appeals. A nudge round the corner just eluded Marnus Labuschagne. Then, at length, Labuschagne interposed a hand beneath another looping deflection, even if the Australians again looked diffident around a DRS, and it was only the insistence of Steve Smith, with a clear sight from slip, that tilted the vote in a review’s favour.

Nearly normal cricket in a post-normal world had its own peculiar features. The hygienically distributed crowd was excluded from the hill. Cummins and not a mystery green and gold guest had to present Cameron Green with his baggy green, while the players were obliged to pass caps, hats and sunglasses amongst themselves.

There was a cheer after 16 overs when Green was sighted in proximity to a bowling mark; he has become to Australian cricket like Achilles Jones and/or Sidd Finch, a kind of sporting myth made flesh. In fact, Cummins continued. Later Green bowled his medium pace briskly, creeping up on 140km/h, without posing undue difficulties.

It is now Australia’s Test to lose. Kohli must hope Mr Micawber applies on Thursday, and that something will turn up.