Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and opted to bat at Sydney after Rohit Sharma opted out of the Test match. India lost the openers, KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, by the seventh over. Virat Kohli survived a close call for a catch off the first ball he faced, and continued until lunch. He took a single off the fourth ball of what could have been – or not – the final over of the session.

Nathan Lyon had to bowl two balls of his over. Gill, India’s best batter of the session, pushed the first ball towards the leg-side. Determined to ensure it was the last over before lunch, Gill took his time before facing the last ball of Lyon’s over.

As Lyon walked back to his bowling mark, Marnus Labuschagne chirped words of encouragement from leg slip.

“This is bullsh*t,” said Smith from first slip, clearly unimpressed with Gill’s tactics. “Oi, let’s play!”

“You take your time, Smithy, nobody says anything to you,” responded Gill, patting the pitch with due diligence. “Yeah, you do,” agreed Labuschagne.

“Let’s play,” interrupted Smith.

“You take your time, Smithy,” continued Labuschagne. “I do,” agreed Smith.

As the banter died down, Lyon came from round the wicket. Gill, largely unperturbed until then, decided to step out for some reason. He did not reach the pitch of the ball and, as a last-ditch effort, tried to defend despite that. The ball took the outside edge and went to Smith.

India lost Kohli soon after lunch, and Rishabh Pant (40) and Nitish Kumar Reddy shortly after tea. At the time of writing, they were 121-6 with Ravindra Jadeja (15) and Washington Sundar (0) at the crease.

Watch the sledge before Gill’s dismissal:

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