Debutant Mayank Agarwal provided the base with a confident half-century before Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Puyara steered India to a solid 215 for two on day one of the third Test against Australia in Melbourne.

Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bat on a docile pitch, putting its sixth opening pairing in 2018, and fifth in 11 overseas Tests this year.But it proved effective as Vihari and Agarwal put on 40 runs after batting out 18.5 overs, India’s longest opening stand in terms of balls faced in Test cricket across Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa since December 2010 when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had batted out 29.3 overs against the Proteas at Centurion.

Cummins got him off a sharp rising delivery in the 19th over, as Vihari took his eyes off the ball and gloved it to Aaron Finch in the slip region.Agarwal kept the scoreboard ticking after a watchful initial period, reaching his maiden Test half-century off 95 balls.

Overall, he became the seventh Indian batsman to score a half-century on Test debut.Agarwal produced a confident 76-run knock before falling at stroke of tea.Skipper Kohli and Pujara then took control over the proceedings denying the hosts any more success in the final session.Kohli survived a hostile Mitchell Starc over towards the end to stay unbeaten on 47.