Australia have always been vulnerable against this particular species of bowlers, though Gajendra Singh’s brand of left-arm spin wasn’t all that vicious or crafty. The youngster from Bikaner bowled stump-to-stump and allowed the dry pitch to punish the top Australian batsmen for their tentative jabs in the practice game on Saturday.

Gajendra claimed his most prominent five-for on Saturday afternoon — trapping Matthew Hayden leg-before, forcing Ricky Ponting out of his crease with a simple bat-pad catch, cleaning up Michael Clarke with an arm ball, beating Brad Haddin all ends up to have him stumped, and fittingly claiming the last Australian wicket of Mitchell Johnson.

Australia were shockingly wiped out for 218 in a mere 77.1 overs with a sizeable contribution coming from Simon Katich, who made 73 during an error-free 155 minutes at the crease. The only other contribution of note came from Shane Watson — 30 from 81 balls.

First impressions here, however, may not last too long. Australia have already snatched back a bit of the initiative — RCA XI were 38 for two with Gagan Khoda and skipper Venugopal Rao both batting on 18 — and the early jitters for the visitors anyway follow a dangerous trend. Australia have been nervous tourists in this part of the world but have hit back strongly once the Test series has started. And the shake-up this time was invited by the Australians themselves with the choice of a dry, wicket with low bounce.

“One has to take time batting here. You can’t try run-a-ball scoring in India. Even history says that the key to being successful is to stay patient and spend time at the crease,” Katich said.

... contd.