The start of the fifth Test mirrored the previous four as the bowlers dominated early.
After several deliveries beat the edge of the bat outside off stump, Starc found more joy in straighter bowling as KL Rahul (4) took a simple catch to Konstas at square leg in the fifth over.
Scott Boland needed just four balls from Yashasvi Jaiswal Jaiswal (10) for the young opener to pass the ball to debutant Beau Webster, replacing Mitch Marsh.
This brought Virat Kohli, the pantomime villain of the series, into the spotlight. Kohli was greeted with numerous boos from the SCG crowd, due to his deliberate shoulder strike on Konstas on the opening morning of the Boxing Day Test for which he was later fined.
And fittingly, her first ball was the most dramatic of the session. Boland pulled the edge and it flew low to Steve Smith’s right hand at second slip. Smith appeared to put his hand just under the ball before it hit the ground and the ball appeared for Marnus Labuschagne to complete the catch, sparking wild celebrations for the hosts.
The catch was thrown back to TV umpire Joel Wilson with replays suggesting the ball grazed the grass as it came out of Smith’s hand and Kohli survived.
As lunch approached, Nathan Lyon (1-19) teased Gill (20) to edge Smith.
Kohli’s (17) luck didn’t extend much further after the break and he edged Boland again to be the only Indian wicket to fall during a slow middle session.
Pant, who was widely criticized after two loose dismissals in Melbourne, again played a rash shot to hole out Boland for 40, which sparked a 6-65 collapse to end India’s innings.
“It was obviously pretty fluid… so the plan was to play a little fuller and try to, you know, attract those front foot defenses and those 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 victory for India and a draw at 2-2 would allow the visitors to retain the trophy for a record fifth consecutive time.
A victory for Australia at the SCG would book the team a place in a second consecutive World Test Championship final. Australia beat India in the 2023 final. South Africa became the first team to qualify for the WTC final at Lord’s in June by winning a dramatic home match against Pakistan on the weekend. last last.
