Perth, March 6 Jemimah Rodrigues played bravely, scoring a half-century, but other Indian batters failed to counter the swing generated by Australian pacers Annabel Sutherland and debutant Lucy Hamilton, resulting in a low score of 198 on the first day of the one-off day-night Test here on Friday.
Rodrigues (52, 84 balls) looked fluent, but lacked support from her teammates.
The Indian pacers maintained a good line outside the off-stump to get three Australian top-order batters out, leaving the home team at 96 for three at the close.
Australia are trailing by 102 runs.
The Australians chose to field, and Sutherland (4/46) and Hamilton (3/31) delivered, bowling with pace and generating disconcerting movement.
Left-arm pacer Hamilton dismissed Smriti Mandhana in the sixth over with a well-pitched delivery.
Shafali Verma (35) looked promising, but Sutherland managed to move the ball just enough to get her outside edge, allowing stumper Beth Mooney to complete the dismissal.
Debutant Pratika Rawal (18), captain Harmanpreet Kaur (19), and Deepti Sharma (7) failed to make significant contributions, leaving India at 107 for five.
However, Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh (11, 41 balls) for the sixth wicket added 43 runs, taking India to 150.
Unfortunately, Rodrigues and Ghosh were dismissed by Hamilton and Ash Gardner in quick succession, leaving India in trouble at 150 for seven.
A 38-run partnership between the other two Indian debutants – Kashvee Gautam (34 not out) and Sayali Satghare (7, 35 balls) – for the ninth wicket helped India reach 200.
However, pacer Satghare (8-1-24-2) then dismissed Australian opener Georgia Voll (2) with a powerfully swung delivery.
The ball came from outside off and went past Voll's defence, hitting her leg stump.
India then dismissed Phoebe Litchfield (9) and captain Alyssa Healy (13), who is playing her final match for Australia, reducing the Aussies to 58 for three.
However, Ellyse Perry (43) and Sutherland (20) helped the hosts to complete the day without any further loss.