PHOTOS, Day 1, 3rd Test: Honours shared, but Smith shines again

Captain Steven Smith was well-entrenched for his third century in successive Tests even though India restricted Australia to 259 for five on the opening day of the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Electing to bat, he again was the visitors’ main tormentor, anchoring the innings with an undefeated 72 at stumps.

Check out some photos from the day's play.

Electing to bat, Australia captain Steven Smith stood firm, scoring an undefeated 72 on an absorbing first day of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Match Report

Scorecard

From a shaky 184 for four, the home team reached 259 for five by stumps, mainly through the watchful effort of their captain and Brad Haddin, who was unbeaten on 23.

The Australians lost David Warner (0) early but staged a recovery through Chris Rogers (57) and Shane Watson (52) in a 115-run partnership for the second wicket. They then lost three quick wickets, allowing the Indians to claw back into the game.

Australia pushed to 174 for three at tea.

Scorecard

Pacers Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami stuck to a tight line and length to grab two wickets apiece while an equally impressive Ravichandran Ashwin took one wicket.

Strike bowler Ishant Sharma was impressive in his spells but ended the day without a wicket.

Australia were put on the backfoot as soon as the match began as their danger-man Warner was dismissed for a duck off Yadav in the second over itself.

The visitors, however, failed to capitalise on the initial gains as Shikhar Dhawan, who took a low catch in the slips to dismiss Warner, put down an easy one when Watson was on 37 four overs before lunch.

Australia went into the lunch break on a comfortable 92 for one.

The Indian attack zipped through their overs, thanks in part to the tremendous effort put in by Ashwin (1/60) on a day one pitch. The bowlers, in tandem, kept the run-scoring in check and struck at regular intervals, never letting the Australian batsmen dominate in the last two sessions.

Earlier, Chris Rogers and Watson began the post-lunch session looking to extend their 92-run partnership from the morning session and further frustrate the Indians. They began where they left off, bringing up the 100-mark in the 30th over as also their century-stand.

Australia are bidding to seal the four-match series 3-0, having won the opening Tests in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Batsman Joe Burns, who replaced injured all-rounder Mitchell Marsh in the Australian line-up, batted at number six on his Test debut but could score just 13.

Fast bowler Ryan Harris returned after recovering from a leg strain, replacing Mitchell Starc, joining Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood in Australia's three-pronged pace attack.

India also made two changes, the out-of-form Rohit Sharma being dropped in favour of debutant Lokesh Rahul and pacer Mohammed Shami coming in for Varun Aaron.