1. A Poor Pick
The decision on whether Australia should play Cameron White or Jason Krejza was clearly not an easy one for the selection team - represented for this Test and the next by Merv Hughes - who wanted to wait until the toss before confirming their decision.

Shortly before the coin flip the word from sources close to the team was that Krejza was set for a debut, but 20 minutes later Ricky Ponting's team sheet revealed just one predictable change: Stuart Clark back in to replace Peter Siddle.

If the decision was changed in those 20 minutes then there may be a feeling of regret from someone in the Australian camp tonight because White has effectively been made null and void by the Indian batsmen after just four expensive overs. There was clearly a plan to attack the 'spinner' and treat him as the weakest link, and Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar were brutal as they took 27 runs off those four overs.

Perhaps the train of thought from the selectors was that continuity was better than a shot in the dark. I must admit that I haven't seen Krejza bowl competitively but I honestly can't imagine him doing a worse job than White, and as an orthodox off-spinner he should have the control to contain, which remains Australia's main ask of their spinner.

With White taken out of the equation and Ponting desperately needing to up the over rate to escape a looming ban, the skipper was forced to turn to part-timer Simon Katich. These really are desperate times for Australia.

2. A Sense Of Dčja Vu
Meanwhile, it's clear that the fast bowlers have done a lot of hard work since the Mohali mauling - Brett Lee was bowling at 145 mph in his third spell of the day and Mitchell Johnson's pace was also consistently high.

But while they also spent a lot of time working out how to engineer some reverse swing, today they showed no signs of having mastered the art.

They started off well enough and managed to restrict the Indian batsmen's run-scoring opportunities by bowling a lot of short deliveries that the hosts were not keen to hook. The resulting frustration led Rahul Dravid to go after a wide one and nick it through to first slip after Lee had accounted for Virender Sehwag with an excellent ball which darted in.

But then they ran out of ideas and things began to feel very familiar: as in Mohali, you couldn't see where they could get a wicket from, and again they reverted to damage limitation. That they managed it to an extent was solely down to Stuart Clark, who conceded just 29 runs in 21 overs. With his efforts removed from the equation, India scored at 3.9 per over.

3. Gambhir Goes Big
That is not to take away from what was a commendable innings from Gautam Gambhir, who batted all day to finish on 149 not out.

After showing restraint during the first session when the bowlers kept it short to discourage free-flowing shots, Gambhir opened up after lunch and played some delightful attacking cricket shots off both the front and back foot.

While some might struggle with an excitable Indian crowd baying for one more run to bring up a century, Gambhir showed just how bolshy he's feeling about his ability by charging Shane Watson and belting him over wide long-on for six.

As mentioned in the Mohali five-fer, Gambhir tends to slip under the radar in a country obsessed with the big-name stars. But he's grown in confidence as the series has developed and shown that while the expiry date on the 'Fab Four' is approaching, he is someone who could lead India's batting line-up into the next generation.

4. Gambhir Goes A Little Too Big
Of course while his aggressive strokeplay was one of the highlights of day one, the other was his verbal and physical aggression towards the Aussie fielders.

First there was an incident with Watson, who found himself on the receiving end of a Gambhir elbow as the batsman ran past him in the afternoon session. Television replays suggested the elbow was deliberate. Asked about the matter at the end of the day, Gambhir said at first that these incidents are "part and parcel of the game". When pressed on the matter and whether a deliberate elbow also fell under this much-mentioned category, he insisted that it was an accident and that he had no reason to deliberately elbow Watson given the position of the game.

If that wasn't enough, Gambhir then engaged in a shouting match with Simon Katich after the bowler got in his way during a run. Michael Clarke was required to step in to pull Katich away in order to bring the ugly incident to a close.

Good aggressive cricket is good to watch and it's clear that India won't give an inch after the turbulent Test series in Australia earlier this year, but it also seems to be spilling over. Cricket is a non-contact sport and so any incident where a player fails to do his utmost to avoid contact is bound to raise questions of legality.

It will be most interesting to see if we'll be hearing from match referee Chris Broad any time soon.

5. Series Over?
That seems to be the consensus among many of the Australian press, one of whom declared it over (with only a partially jovial tone of voice) as soon as India won the toss.

There's a lot more grass on this pitch than anyone expected and it was good for batting today, slow as it was. But already there were some rough patches developing in fairly useful areas and there's no doubt that India's spinners will fancy their chances from day three onwards.

But more important could be the home side's ability to induce reverse swing - Australia still haven't worked it out but if India can then it will ensure that there is little respite for Australia's batsmen as it carries the biggest threat on a slow pitch.

It was certainly a big toss to lose and it will take a mammoth effort from Australia to turn the series around from here. It may well be impossible.

Tristan Holme