On the second day in Perth, a Test match broke out.

The Australians woke still dizzy from the night before, confused and regretful, just hoping the damage they would soon have to confront wasn't permanent.

Day one had been a party that got out of hand. On Saturday it was back to work, only with a headache that would pound for hours.

For a while there was merit in the way the home side stuck to its task even as the day got away from it, but that line of credit soon ran out. India dominated the afternoon, professionally grinding Australia into the lush Perth Stadium turf to put it in a position of complete dominance.

And to make matters worse, India's success was underpinned by the very thing Australian cricket pines for more than anything — a wunderkind opening batter.

Yashasvi Jaiswal will resume on day three just 10 runs shy of his fourth Test century, in this his 15th Test and first in Australia.

In many ways this knock recalled the early impositions of Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in this country — Jaiswal may never reach those lofty heights, but it's impossible to watch him bat and not ponder just how good he could be, and for how long.

Jaiswal and KL Rahul went about their work on what seemed to be a different pitch in a different game. Gone was the madcap batting of Friday, the dramatic swing and the just-enough movement off a fun but fair wicket.

This was Test match batting as we have always known it to be, with just the occasional reverse sweep or cow-corner hoik tossed in to remind us it is still 2024.

Rahul and Jaiswal make for an intriguing opening pair, comparable in style and temperament but seemingly on dramatically different trajectories.

Despite his obvious world-class talent Rahul is always on the precipice of being replaced. Before this innings he could have been considered out of form.

Meanwhile, at 22 years old, 10 years Rahul's junior, Jaiswal has the world at his feet and a glittering career already mapped out for him.

He bats with all the style you'd expect of a prodigious young left-hander, but in this innings further proved there is substance as well.

Jaiswal stood up resolutely to the early challenge thrown down by an in-form Mitchell Starc and a fired-up Pat Cummins, eventually outlasting the big Aussie quicks and offering a parting word to send them on their way.

Some of Jaiswal's strokeplay late in the day was stunning. A whipped leg glance off the bowling of Starc drew instant comparison to Ricky Ponting at his elegant best — though, unlike Jaiswal, Ponting's seldom carried the rope for six.

As an introduction to an Australian audience, Jaiswal could not have made a stronger impression. He will delight and torment in equal measure here for a decade at least.

Speaking of a decade, it had been longer than that since an Indian opening pair put on a 100-run stand here. And in a game that was yet to produce a partnership of more than 48 runs — and in which Australia maxed out at 25 for the 10th wicket — this was a backbreaker.

The Aussie bowling attack, rightly held up as the best four-man combination the country has put forward in Test cricket, started their work with a purpose fuelled by frustration.

They had done their job on day one, and now were being asked to do it again. This time, there was no juice left.

The bowling certainly wasn't bad, and the same balls that caught the edges on Friday were slipping painfully by them on Saturday, but the ease with which Jaiswal and Rahul set about their task visibly sapped the life out of Australia.

By the time the ball found its way to Marnus Labuschagne's hand before tea — to be hurled into the pitch as close to his toes as possible and is legal within the rules of the game — Australia had lost its way entirely.

The Australians will often speak about how Test matches are won in the periods of attrition within a game, when not much is happening and the cricket turns more into a staring contest.

But this never felt like attrition. This felt like one team enjoying the spoils of its previous good work while the other wearily accepted its punishment.

Barely a chance was created. There was an edge that fell short of Usman Khawaja at slip, though perhaps only because his effort to beat the grass to the ball was half-hearted.

Steve Smith had a sniff of a run-out after a mix-up, but his throw at the stumps was outrageously wild. And that was just about it.

In the last hour of the day, Cummins bowled a bouncer that was so short not even Jaiswal could reach it with an uppercut. It sailed over the batter, carried on beyond Alex Carey and trickled away to the rope.

Traditionally these had been the moments when Cummins would lift his team out of the mud with an act of inspiration, but not today.

He, like all the Australians, could only stroll the outfield aimlessly wondering how they could ever hope to drag themselves out of this mess, the one two hours of black-out cricket a day earlier earlier had left them in.

Throughout the summer, we'll look back at some of the best stories and share our own favourite moments from Australia and India's cricket history.

Join us to continue the conversation on our live blogs and on the radio over the summer before the readers' top 10 is revealed ahead of the fifth Test at the SCG from January 3.

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