As expected, the first day of the fourth Test began with spin. Only, this did not involve a cricket ball. Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese, the respective prime ministers of India and Australia, took a spin around the outfield of the Narendra Modi Stadium, enthusiastically waving out to the crowds.

The stage was set for political spin to hold sway, with Modi presenting Rohit Sharma with a cap and Albanese doing the same with Steve Smith. In all this, the players were not allowed on the field for their usual pre-match warm-ups, relegated instead to facilities abutting the main ground. Oh, and the toss was delayed.

But, when play did get underway, hype and hoopla finally gave way to substance. Smith was right when he said on Wednesday that this was likely to be the flattest Day 1 pitch of the series. He was also right when he called at the toss, winning an important one and giving Australia first batting use of the surface.

For once in this series, the ball did not fizz and turn before lunch and neither did it keep low or stick in the surface. With the ball wobbling about a bit, it was crucial that the wicketkeeper brought his A-game to the fore, but in the early passage of play KS Bharat failed to do that. Perhaps overawed by the sense of the occasion and sheer size of the stadium — even if it was nowhere near close to full — Bharat put down a sitter offered by Travis Head off the bowling of Umesh Yadav.

On a good surface, reprieving batsmen early can prove very costly, but to Bharat’s relief, Head did not make the most of the second chance. Immediately after the first interval for drinks, Head (32) came down the pitch to Ravichandran Ashwin and hit to the on side but could not connect cleanly and found Ravindra Jadeja at mid-on.

Marnus Labuschagne joined Usman Khawaja out in the middle to make fidgety nervous energy at one end and cool, calm and poise at the other. Khawaja, already the leading run-scorer in the series, realised that this was his first real opportunity on this tour to cash in.

If Labuschagne also felt the same way, he did not put his money where his mouth was. Continuing to go right back to deliveries that were too full to safely do so to, Labuschagne’s defences were breached by Mohammed Shami, who moved the ball just enough to deceive the batsman. Yet another chance to make a mark in this series went abegging for a batsman of whom much was expected. Steve Smith became Khawaja’s latest ally, and while he was solid, he did not quite look to transfer the pressure back onto the bowlers. This allowed India to get a degree of control over the game. Although the wickets were not falling thick and fast — Australia did not lose a single one in the middle session — the visitors were not allowed to move the game forward at any pace.

This was good old-fashioned Test cricket. In the first three Tests, the chorus was all about batsmen trying to find ways to score runs. Here, the onus was on the bowlers to respond to the match situation and the conditions.

Khawaja and Smith had added 79 for the third wicket when Jadeja found a way through. Smith, trying to force one through the off side with an angled bat, inside edged onto his stumps. All Jadeja had done was plug away at a good line and length, patiently waiting for the batsman to make the mistake.

Peter Handscomb, who was impressive in resistance in the previous Test, appeared to have walked out to the crease with the preconceived notion that he would go right back to the fast bowlers, irrespective what length was bowled. Shami exploited this perfectly, placing a full ball on the stumps in such a way that the movement beat the bat, which was not covering the stumps and uprooted the off pole.

In the dying light of the day, Australia got some relief when the second new ball was taken, picking up some quick runs as Khawaja (104*) racked up his 14th Test hundred and first against India. More crucially, Khawaja had faced 251 deliveries without being in any difficulty. Statistics tell us that Australia have never lost a Test when Khawaja has stuck around for 182 balls or more, and he has done this 13 times before.

Cameron Green, who chipped in with a brisk unbeaten 49, ensured Australia ended the day on 255 for 4. Peak Test cricket was back, and both teams will have to fight hard to get the result they want.

BRIEF SCORES

Australia 255 for 4 (Khawaja 104*, Green 49*; Shami 2/65, Jadeja 1/49, Ashwin 1/57) vs India at stumps on Day 1