The Indian media has demanded answers from India’s batting line up and also called for paceman Jasprit Bumrah to call out his teammates.

After Australia’s tail wagged with the bat for a little longer to reach 445 all out early on Monday, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood quickly had India in trouble with a devastating opening spell at the Gabba, to leave the tourists at 4-51.

Starc (2-25) took the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill in his first two overs to set the tone, before Hazlewood (1-17) captured the prize wicket of Virat Kohli just before one of many passing rain showers brought on an early lunch with India at 3-22.

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After removing Jaiswal (4) with the first ball of the innings in the second Test at Adelaide, Starc needed just two balls at the Gabba to remove India’s opener.

The first ball was swiped through gully for a boundary by the 22-year-old but the second he chipped a simple catch to Mitch Marsh at midwicket for a soft dismissal.

In his next over, Starc struck again with Marsh diving acrobatically to take a two-handed catch at gully to remove Shubman Gill (1) and India was 2-7.

Hazlewood, back in the team after a side strain ruled him out of last week’s second test, then rocked India further by teasing an edge from the veteran Kohli to have India three down as rain began to fall and prompted an early lunch.

The lacklustre performance of India’s batters and Bumrah’s champion form has caused a stir in the sub continent.

Bumrah added one more wicket to return figures of 6-76, having completed his 12th five-wicket haul in Tests on Sunday, to again shoulder the load for India’s bowlers.

“We have 11 players, I don’t look at it that I have to do extra,” Bumrah said. “We are a new team, a lot of new players have come into the side and we have to look at it that they will learn from the experience.”

While the dominant paceman was pragmatic in the face of questions around the form of his teammates, cricket writers in the country weren’t so forgiving.

Writing for the Indian Express, Sriram Veera said Kohli’s decline was looking eerily similar to that of other Indian batting legends who were on the out.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag were all on their last legs on the 2011-12 tour of Australia, where India lost 4-0.

“Where do we start about the few minutes of madness when Indians drove themselves crazy? Perhaps best to start with Virat Kohli, who should have known better,” Veera wrote.

“There is one other difference in relation to that 2011 tour – Kohli’s travails here can’t be compared with Tendulkar’s then. That one was a rather strange tour for Tendulkar who kept looking like a million bucks until the moment of error that would get him out. In contrast, Kohli hasn’t looked good, be it in Perth’s first innings or at Adelaide.

“It would remain a puzzle why Tendulkar kept getting out after looking good on that tour – unlike Dravid, say, who was sorted out by Ben Hilfenhaus and VVS Laxman. With Kohli, there is no puzzle to why he has been getting out.”

Former India Test No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara told Star Sports, Kohli’s weakness has always been playing the new ball.

“We are discussing that he has been forced to play the new ball. He has gotten out whenever he has played the new ball. When he played the old ball, he scored a hundred in Perth. So that’s also a very big point,” Pujara said of Kohli.

“His technique is not made for the new ball. His batting should come after 10, 15 or 20 overs. If he plays the new ball, the bowlers are fresh, and their confidence is also high. When they get two wickets, the entire team is charged up. So when you come to bat at that stage, it’s not easy.

“When the bowling is happening in just one area, on the fourth to sixth stump, and he is playing that and getting out, it’s not a good thing. He understands that himself. We saw in the net session as well that he was leaving balls in that area, but that execution is not happening in the match.”

Writing for the Deccan Herald, Madhu Jawali wrote:

“There was a time when Virat Kohli walked out to bat, a quiet confidence flowed through the Indian camp.

“These days it has been replaced by trepidation. And as if on cue, the struggling warrior who seemed to have turned the clock back with a century in Perth, fell to his favourite mode of dismissal.

“Poking at one outside off-stump by Josh Hazlewood and safely nicking it behind. Soon after, it started raining. Who knows what would have happened if only Kohli had survived that one delivery!”

Writing for the Hindustan Times, R Kaushik also called for India’s most destructive strike weapon in Bumrah to call out his misfiring teammates.

“We don’t, as a team, point fingers at each other and we don’t want to get into that mindset where we are pointing fingers at each other – that you should do this, you should do that.’

“So said Jasprit Bumrah on Monday, a few hours after bowling his heart out to pick up six for 76, and not long after watching his top-order batters gifting their wickets to Australia’s high-class pace attack,” Kaushik wrote.

“Maybe you should start pointing fingers. Maybe that will spur them into showing greater discipline, into showing greater respect and appreciation for your genius.

“For the third time this series, India’s batting line-up came a cropper in the first innings. Not necessarily because Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins were unplayable, but because of their own unwillingness to put a price on their scalps. Because of their propensity to play strokes without getting set.

“Because of their inability to learn from the masterclass in self-denial put on by Australia’s top three.”