Visitors ease away to a commanding lead as Australia fade to the point of missing small moments on day two of the first Test in Perth

Imagine you’re doing the Keanu Reeves bit in Speed. You’re on a bus that can’t drop below 50 miles an hour or it will explode. It’s high-octane stuff, even if the bus is running on diesel. You have to avoid collisions, do sick jumps, kindle a romance with Sandra Bullock. But then imagine there’s a change in script. Dennis Hopper rings up with a different idea. Now, the bus has a maximum speed. And that speed is 10 miles an hour. Chill.

It was this sort of change that came over the first Test between Australia and India on its second day. On the first day, Australia had taken all 10 India wickets for 150, then lost seven of their own by stumps for 67. But after the early exchanges on the second morning, the match morphed from fast-forward chaos to careful, considered, and conventional. The slowdown though was only good for one team. We are stretching the metaphor beyond breaking point, but even if this bus was only going at 10 miles an hour, it was driving inexorably away from Australia.