Day 1 saw a sea-saw battle between the Australian batsmen and the Indian bowlers. Matthew Hayden and the old warhorse Anil Kumble shared the honours, each trying to ensure that his team gets the early initiative right from the beginning. But at the end of the Day it was the Indians who were celebrating. Ponting won the toss on the Boxing Day Test and opted to bat first. Phil Jaques & amp; Matthew Hayden started the Australian innings. Both batted with confidence - piercing the field and reaching the ropes at will. Jaques seemed more aggrassive of the two - and reached his half- century before Hayden. But the dashing opener was not to be left far too behind. He too reached his half-century.
Though, they reached their personal fifties, that was not before a quite start. Zaheer was the pick of the two pace bowlers. He forced both of the openers to play at the ball. But when nothing special was happening, Kumble had to bring 'The Turbanator' on. But he too could could show no damage to the Australian scorecard. As usual Kumble was the man of the crisis. It was the captain himself who provided the important breakthrough. For this the Indians had to wait till the 34th over & 20 odd minutes after the lunch. The first session was wholely dominated by the Aussies. In came Ponting and out went Ponting not giving much trouble to the scoreres.
Hussey seemed to feel more for the scoreres. His 85+ average seems to come down with each passing innings. Suddendly, from 135/0 the Aussies slumped to 165/3. Hayden then took charge and reached his 6th century against India - and his 28th overall. His 124 off 183 balls was the only standout performance. Till then Michael Clarke too was dismissed by R. P. Singh, making him play the ball and edging it to the slip. Then started the downward slide with the Australians ''gifting'' the Indians wickets on the X-mas occassion. The tiring Indians gleefully accepting. Symonds and Gilchrist only looked dangerous, but the ''gifts'' seemed to be firm in their minds. Kumble was the outstanding of the 6 bowlers.
Picking 5/84 - he claims this to be his best performance. And why not? Against Australia and in their own backyard. And who were his victims - Phil Jaques, Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee. Brett Lee apart, all the four are dangerous batsmen on their day. This might be the first time that the Aussies have a lost a whopping 9 wickets in a single day. The second & the third session was surely dominated by India. At the end of day one Australian score card read a misrable 337/9 from a bright position of 135/0.