India's reliance on Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara has been highlighted by an alarming start to their pink-ball tour game in Sydney, where the tourists crumbled to 6-111 at the end of the first session.
Kohli and Pujara were both rested from the three-day clash with Australia A at the SCG.
Stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who will lead India in the final three Tests of the upcoming series after Kohli returns home, opted to bat.
Rahane found himself in the middle at 3-102 and quickly became one of allrounder Jack Wildermuth's three victims in a frenetic session, shaking his head after unsuccessfully lashing at a delivery outside off stump.
Wildermuth was only called into the Australia A squad because of Moises Henriques' hamstring injury.
The Queenslander made the most of his late inclusion, clean bowling Hanuma Vihari after the batsman shouldered arms then trapping Rishabh Pant lbw to end the session and a collapse of 5-39.
The carnage, coming on a green-tinged pitch but long before the lights came on at the iconic venue, will serve as a sobering alarm given a far more imposing attack awaits in the day-night Test that begins at Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
Exciting allrounder Cameron Green continued to make an impressive case for a baggy green, dismissing Shubman Gill with a cracking delivery during a four-over spell of 1-7.
Australia and India are both nursing top-order selection headaches.
David Warner's groin strain and Will Pucovski's concussion, coupled with Joe Burns' recent form, have created a complicated dilemma for the hosts.
The identity of India's top six for the first Test is also decidedly unclear.
Incumbent openers Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw are expected to get the nod in Adelaide but neither batsman inspired much confidence on Friday.
Agarwal, whose only other knocks on tour were scores of 28 and 22 in the ODI series, was out for two when he edged a rising ball from Sean Abbott to Burns at first slip.
Shaw raced to 40, stroking eight boundaries, then was clean bowled after Will Sutherland exposed a big gap between bat and pad.
Would-be debutant Gill, who is aged 21 and played alongside Pat Cummins during the recent IPL season, scored 43.
Veteran batsman Rohit Sharma, who reignited his Test career as an opener, remains in India as he recovers from a hamstring injury.
KL Rahul, who has opened throughout the vast majority of his 36-Test career, was notably absent from the tourists' XI on Friday.
Kohli, who has managed recurring back trouble carefully in recent years, flagged after scoring 85 in India's final Twenty20 against Australia that he may sit out the tour game.
