Labuschagne, Pucovski make it Australia's day at the SCG

The much-anticipated arrival of Will Pucovski to Test cricket proved worth the sometimes anxious wait as the debutant led Australia to their best batting day thus far in the tightly fought Vodafone Test Series against India.

Marnus Labuschagne (67no) might have top scored at the SCG today, and Steve Smith may have announced he's back as a force with 31 to his name when play resumes at 10am AEDT tomorrow, but it was Pucovski's 62 from 110 balls and several crucial missed chances that dominated discussions.

They were the conversations that filled the gap of almost 40 overs lost on the opening day due to Sydney's persistent rain and percolated through a crowd of 8,692 that was reduced due to ongoing COVID19 restrictions in New South Wales.

But it will be remembered as a day for the debutants, on both sides of the battle that Australia finished with the upper hand at 2-166 from 55 completed overs, helped in no small part by India's butter-fingers.

Pucovski appeared destined to crown the rise to Test cricket that has seemed his destiny from teenage-hood with a fabled century until he was pinned in front of his stumps to become Navdeep Saini's maiden Test wicket.

Saini had received an unwelcome greeting to his Test debut by Pucovski, who sent the 28-year-old's first two deliveries to the boundary – one via a deft punch behind point and the second a sweet on-drive to the rope.

The latter carried Pucovski to a half-century from 97 balls faced, making him the first Australian to reach 50 in his inaugural Test innings since his Victoria teammate Aaron Finch made 62 in his first outing against Pakistan in Dubai in 2018.

But Pucovski could have been excused for thinking, in light of the wretched fortune that his dogged him since making his Marsh Sheffield Shield debut for Victoria as an 18-year-old, that his much-anticipated Test arrival similarly brought a shift in luck.

The 22-year-old saw opening partner David Warner fall to an injudicious swat in the day's fourth over, before a four-hour delay for rain and a damp in-field gave the right-hander a welcome chance to gather his thoughts having safely reached 14 in his debut knock.

It was when play resumed, in bright but cool conditions in Sydney, that Pucovski began to sense this was to be his day.

On 26, he stretched well forward in defence against India's premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and the speed with which his head spun around as the ball fizzed past the bat's outside edge confirmed the bowler's belief there had been a nick.

But keeper Rishabh Pant, who might have believed the ball was bound to graze Pucovski's off-stump so closely did it come, failed to glove the chance that hit the webbing between his left thumb and forefinger before falling safely to the pitch.

It was the first of an embarrassing pair of Pant's drops.

Three overs later, shortly after Pucovski and Labuschagne celebrated a 50-run partnership that have previously proved elusive throughout this series, the junior partner seemed to have fallen victim to the short-pitched ball that he was expected to be peppered with.

As events transpired, India's bowlers had used the bouncer weapon sparingly despite Pucovski's well-documented history of concussions and instead targeted the right-hander's front pad in their clear belief he was vulnerable to lbw.

However, a short ball from Mohammed Siraj – a comparative Test veteran having made his debut in last week's preceding match at the MCG – caught Pucovski in a tangle as his attempted pull shot yielded a catch that ballooned from the padding on his right glove.

It fell awkwardly for the short Pant, who was compelled to spin around and dive as the ball dropped from over his right shoulder. But despite it spilling from his gloves on first attempt, it appeared he had clasped his hands around it as he hit the ground.

Certainly his slip-fielding colleagues thought so as he was treated to a series of congratulatory back-slaps, as did umpire Paul Reiffel who – despite being obscured from his vantage point by Pant's body – called for clarification from the third official, citing a 'soft signal' of out.

That television replay clearly showed the ball making contact with the grass before the keeper could re-gather and Pucovski resumed what was becoming an innings as charmed as it was charming.

When he survived a near run-out in circumstances more black comedy than fairytale, it seemed Greg Blewett's mantle (from 25 years ago) as the most-recent Australia Test batter to notch a century on home soil in a maiden innings was destined to tumble.

Having pushed Siraj through cover for a couple of runs, Pucovski saw Jasprit Bumrah slip as he gathered the ball and instinctively took off for a third as Labuschagne shouted "no, no, no" with little effect.

It was only the apparent injury Bumrah had sustained in the mishap, which later proved to be minor, that meant his return went via Ashwin at cover and enabled Pucovski to scamper back to safety despite finding himself almost alongside his partner at the bowler's end as the throw came in.

Even a dusting of light rain during the tea break, which Pucovski spent unbeaten on 54 after his pair of imperious boundaries off Saini, cleared in time for the Victorian to resume his journey to an historic landmark.

And, of greater consequence to the talented stroke-maker, to put his team in a strong position after three flakey innings with the bat in the two previous Tests.

So it came as much of a surprise to Pucovski as it did to an enthralled nation when Saini speared a full, in-swinging delivery through the previously solid defence as the rookie tried to whip across the line and failed to make contact.

The frustration etched on Pucovski's face as he consulted with Labuschagne as to the merits of lodging a review was born more of annoyance at missing what was essentially a half-volley rather than any disquiet with Reiffel's decision.

He appeared to mouth "was it plumb?" to his batting partner, articulating his own belief before he left the field to a rousing ovation from the socially distanced crowd.

His only hope of successfully challenging the ruling would have been if the ball was shown to have pitched outside off-stump, but replays confirmed it would have remained 'umpire's call' which meant Australia might have retained their review but still surrendered their bright new talent.

It was then left to the 'old firm' of Labuschagne and Smith to take Australia to the end of their first day of batting dominance of the Border-Gavaskar campaign to date.

It had not begun that way, with Warner clearly in pain and inconvenienced by the groin injury that had kept him out of the first two Tests.

It had been flagged the former vice-captain was not 100 per cent fit heading into this match, but as he took off for a quick single in the day's second over, it seemed the risk in playing had backfired.

Fears that Warner had re-injured himself were later dismissed by skipper Tim Paine, but the left-hander appeared to be inconvenienced in his foot movements at the crease, which brought about his dismissal for five.

"Obviously I don't think he's one hundred per cent, but he's pretty close to," Paine told Fox Cricket during the rain delay.

"It's interesting, he's been running and moving and doing all the training, but that's probably the first time he went at that absolute one hundred per cent intensity.

"It's hard to train that I guess, when you dab one to cover and you and you instinctively take off as quickly as you can.

"But he's fine."

Australia XI: David Warner, Will Pucovski, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (c, wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood

India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini 

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Thangarasu Natarajan

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT