India's refusal to compete using the DRS system took the shine off an absorbing Boxing Day Test at the MCG. Australia closed on 6/277 after Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat. That scorecard was blighted by two decisions during the evening session that would most likely have been overturned on review, had India not vetoed its use.

Debutant Ed Cowan was one of the unfortunates. The opener excelled in his first Test innings, top scoring with 68, before he was controversially adjudged to have edged R Ashwin to MS Dhoni. That decision was made 16 deliveries after Mike Hussey was incorrectly ruled to have edged his first ball to the Indian wicketkeeper.

Until the evening's flashpoints the day had belonged to Cowan.

The lefthander was characteristically phlegmatic at the crease, displaying an authority and temperament of a bygone era. He possesses two supreme attributes for an opening batsman, the patience of shot selection to force bowlers to bowl to him and the concentration to play each delivery on its merits.

Patience and concentration - it's heartening to know such Patrician virtues have survived the short format apocalypse.

The Tasmanian had scored just 14 by lunch. By contrast, his opening partner, David Warner, had made that figure from just 12 deliveries. 58 at Tea, Cowan was chanceless, watching deliveries sail downstream past his off stump like a canny salmon ignoring a man-made lure.

There can be no greater compliment offered to the 29-year old than he played like a competent opening batsman.

Reassured by Cowan's anchor, David Warner raced to 37 from just 49 balls, including four fours and a pulled six more violent and unnerving than any of Christmas night's thunderstorms.

Scoring fluently, Warner was undone by a rain break. The interruption was not long enough for the full square to be covered but forced the Sydneysider to negotiate an Umesh Yadav lifter on his return to the crease. Distracted, Warner was late onto a pull shot and gloved the ball through to MS Dhoni.

Shaun Marsh followed soon after, facing just six deliveries before slicing a drive on the move to Virat Kohli at point to become Yadav's second victim. Selected ahead of all-rounder Dan Christian, Australian selectors must hope they do not rue their preference.

The two quick wickets tempered Australia's brisk opening but energised a crowd that, despite numbering 70,068 (a record for an Indian Test match in Australia), was damp and docile. As Ricky Ponting strode purposefully to the crease the colosseum sensed the importance of the next partnership in the context of the match and the batsman's innings in the context of a career.

Ponting and Cowan added 113 for the third wicket (a Tasmanian record partnership), with the former skipper amassing 62 of them, at a reasonable pace. His shot making off the back foot was vintage. He is among the greatest pullers in history and feasted on India's seamer's poor lengths with his trademark pivot and swivel.

Ponting's runs were accumulated either side of a lunch break hastened and extended by rain. They were also plundered from a largely innocuous Indian bowling attack.

Zaheer Khan displayed his considerable nous but on a Victorian road lacks the height and pace to threaten consistently. His pair of wickets included a play-on and a phantom edge. Ishant Sharma toiled and threatened in spurts but looks underdone. Ashwin extracted bounce and turn but an overcast Boxing Day in Melbourne is not an off-spinner's paradise. Yadav, as his trio of scalps would indicate, looked the greatest obstacle to Australia's progress. His sharp, skiddy action includes a dangerous shorter delivery, and if he finds an Australian length this summer he will prosper.

A Yadav delivery just short of a good length took Ponting's wicket not long before tea. Wary of the Indian's occasional lifter, Ponting failed to fully commit to his stroke, flinching to VVS Laxman in the slip cordon for 62.

Michael Clarke was next to keep Cowan company and strolled to 31 in the afternoon sunlight. As has been his misfortune in recent months though, the Australian skipper somehow contrived to end his innings when in form, chopping onto Khan bowling from around the wicket.

His dismissal sparked a seismic shift in the state of play as 3/205 became 6/214 in 17 balls.

Hussey succumbed the delivery immediately following Clarke's, his third golden duck in eight innings. The experienced batsman can be bitterly disappointed with his exit however, as he clearly missed a vicious Khan lifter, celebrated as a catch behind. Without recourse to review such a shocker he was left to chunter his discontent on the way back to the pavilion.

Australia's ire would be further raised two overs later when Cowan was given out caught behind despite available technology suggesting leather had not made contact with willow.

What had been Australia's day was suddenly India's but Brad Haddin and Peter Siddle dug in as the shadows lengthened across the MCG to advance the score to something approaching par. However, with the pitch lacking any demons and India's formidable batting order looking on, anything under 400 is unlikely to take first-innings honours.