Cricket: India v Australia: Gloom Falls Early on India

India won the toss for the first time in the series and by the end of this short and sullen day they rather wished they hadn't. It was a day filched from an English autumn, shaped by drizzle and mists and light meters. And in the 11 overs that were bowled, India scored 22 uncertain runs for the loss of two wickets.

Play did not get under way until two o'clock and lasted four overs and 22 minutes before it was abandoned until 4.30, when they returned for another half an hour.

Rain and persistent drizzle had been the problem for most of the day but when the players left the field for the last time it was because of the unevenness of the floodlighting, which meant that even Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid had trouble picking up the red ball in the murk.

"It was nice to pick up two wickets and there was a close decision on a third so overall I'm very pleased, even though I'd like to have seen more overs," said Australia's coach John Buchanan.

"Normally when you turn the lights on, the light improves. But it made life more complicated today. The light was uneven and it became quite dark behind the bowler's arm and with the red ball it became pretty difficult.

"I thought the umpires made the right decision. They checked and discovered that conditions had deteriorated in the middle too."

There were three debuts yesterday. Nathan Hauritz, the off-spinner, replaced Shane Warne, who broke his right thumb in two places batting in the nets the previous day. Warne had not been wearing proper protective gear "because I've never been hit there before".

For India, the opening batsmen Gautam Gambhir and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik came in for the forlorn Aakash Chopra and Parthiv Patel.

Poor Gambhir might have gone first ball, when he turned a delivery from Glenn McGrath to short leg. It was no more than a half-chance but the bowler almost redeemed himself by trying to throw down the wicket with the batsman out of his ground.

It was an eventful first over because Virender Sehwag was also dropped by Hauritz, high and to his left at gully. It didn't matter much. With the last ball of the third over McGrath bowled Sehwag off stump with a ball that nipped back through the gate. Then, with the first ball of the next over, Jason Gillespie produced a beauty to the left-handed Gambhir which pitched on leg stump before straightening. At the end of the over, with the score 12 for two, the players trooped off.

When they eventually returned it was with the intention of bowling 17 more overs but only seven were possible. Australia, though, might have grabbed another wicket in that time. Tendulkar, who still looked out of sorts despite long and diligent net sessions, was probably fortunate not to be out lbw to McGrath, playing no stroke to another delivery that nipped back sharply off the seam.

Once again all the talk had been about the spinners wreaking havoc on a very dry surface and once again it was the Australian seamers who were doing the damage. Dravid, too, was a little fortunate, edging a couple just short of the slip cordon.

"It's never difficult to motivate the players for a Test match," he said before the game. "I don't need to do this." But India do need lifting. And if the captain is not prepared to do it, who is?