Aussies forced to grind on MCG pitch

Australia say they expected to get more life out of a grass-covered MCG surface than they did on day one of the Boxing Day Test as the focus again intensifies on the drop-in pitch at the famous venue.

India finished an attritional opening day on 2-215, the lowest completed first-day total at the MCG since 1997 and the first time since 1970 that a full day of play at the MCG on Boxing Day has featured two wickets or less.

New MCG curator Matthew Page and his team have worked tirelessly in an attempt to breathe life into the surface after last year's "poor" rating from the ICC, and a generous covering of green grass on the first morning sparked whispers that the skipper who won the toss might even opt to bowl first.

But after Virat Kohli elected to bat, the pitch offered little assistance to the star-studded Australian bowling attack, who toiled hard but picked up just two wickets in 89 overs.

There was a noticeable lack of bounce from the opening overs. Spinner Nathan Lyon was introduced into the attack after just seven overs, several balls from the fast bowlers in the first hour bounced twice through the wicketkeeper Tim Paine and the Australians cut back to just one slip less than 45 minutes into the match.

"Third over of the Test match and it's not carrying through," former Test quick Glenn McGrath said on Macquarie Radio in the morning session.

"Looking at the track, I was a little bit excited because there was plenty of grass, but you just want it to carry through. I thought it might be a good toss to lose … but the first (few) overs you've got two bowlers bowling 140-plus (kilometres an hour) and it's not carrying through."

The forecast 30-plus degree temperatures on Thursday and Friday could increase the pace in the surface and see the game move forward, with India looking to bat long into the second day and build an unbeatable total.

"I thought it would offer more than what it did in the first couple of hours," said batsman Travis Head after play.

"Tim (Paine) said he didn't really know, he was 50-50. I would have thought it would have offered a bit more, that's what we thought leading into it, but that wasn't the case.

"You have days like that. It's not always going to be clear sailing with good wickets. Today was a case where we had to grind it out. It makes for another massive morning.

"I thought we restricted (them) really well in trying conditions."

Despite the slow scoring rate, there were a handful of occasions where the ball misbehaved, notably late in the day when a delivery from paceman Mitchell Starc launched off a good length, went well over the outstretched glove of Paine and bounced once before crossing the boundary rope.

Opener Hanuma Vihari was also struck on the helmet before lunch and then dismissed when he fended at a short ball from tearaway Pat Cummins and offered a catch to second slip Aaron Finch.

"There was still a little bit there if you hit the wicket," Head said.

"The quicks were able to extract some pace in parts, and then in other parts it didn't react the way we thought it would."

Indian debutant Mayank Agarwal, who top scored 76, said the quality of the Australian bowling had has much to do with the slow scoring rate as the sluggish surface.

"I thought they bowled extremely well," the opener said.

"They didn't bowl many loose balls, they kept it tight and they were attacking. With the way they bowled, I thought we played well."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar