The start of the fifth test mirrored the four previous as the bowlers dominated early.
After several deliveries beat the edge of the bat outside off-stump, Starc found more joy bowling straighter as KL Rahul (4) chipped a simple catch to Konstas at square leg in the fifth over.
Scott Boland only needed four balls at Yashasvi Jaiswal Jaiswal (10) to have the young opener edge a ball through to debutant Beau Webster, replacing Mitch Marsh.
That brought Virat Kohli, the series’ pantomime villain, to the crease. Kohli was greeted by booing from many in the the SCG crowd, stemming from his deliberate shoulder bump on Konstas on the opening morning of the Boxing Day test for which he was later fined.
And fittingly, his first ball was the most dramatic of the session. Boland drew the edge and it flew low to Steve Smith’s right hand at second slip. Smith appeared to get his hand just under the ball before it hit the ground and the ball popped up for Marnus Labuschagne to complete the catch, sparking wild celebrations for the hosts.
The catch was referred to TV umpire Joel Wilson with replays suggesting the ball grazed the grass as it came out of Smith hand and Kohli survived.
As lunch approached, Nathan Lyon (1-19) teased Gill (20) to edge to Smith.
Kohli’s (17) luck didn’t extend much further after the break a he again edged behind from Boland to be India’s only wicket to fall in a slow middle session.
Pant, who was widely criticized after a pair of loose dismissals in Melbourne, again played a rash shot to hole-out off Boland for 40 which triggered a collapse of 6-65 to end India’s innings.
“It was obviously pretty seam-friendly… so the plan was to bowl a little bit fuller and try and, you know, entice those front foot defenses and front foot drives and I thought Scotty (Boland) was excellent,” Webster said.
Australia leads the series 2-1 and must avoid defeat to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time since 2014-15. A win by India and a drawn series at 2-2 would allow the visitors to retain the trophy for a record-extending fifth consecutive time.
A win for Australia at the SCG would book the team’s spot in a second straight World Test Championship final. Australia beat India in the 2023 decider. South Africa became the first team to qualify for the WTC final at Lord’s in June by winning a dramatic match at home to Pakistan last weekend.
