Perth: Jemimah Rodrigues fought bravely with a fifty but other India batters failed to counter the swing generated by Australian pacers Annabel Sutherland and debutant Lucy Hamilton, getting bundled out for a lowly 198 on the opening day of the one-off day-night Test here on Friday.
Rodrigues (52, 84b) looked fluent but did not have much backing from the rest of her colleagues.
The Indian pacers maintained a fine line outside the off-stump to nick off three Aussie top-order batters as the home side was placed at 96 for three at close.
Australia trail by 102 runs.
The Aussies elected to field, and the decision proved right by Sutherland (4/46) and Hamilton (3/31) who bowled at a fair clip and produced disconcerting movement.
Left-arm pacer Hamilton struck the first blow, removing Smriti Mandhana in the sixth over itself, with a peach that came into the left-hander.
Shafali Verma (35) looked good for more, but Sutherland managed to move the ball just the right amount to find her outside edge for stumper Beth Mooney to finish the formalities.
Debutant Pratika Rawal (18), skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (19) and Deepti Sharma (7) departed without making any significant contributions, as India slipped to 107 for five.
But a 43-run association between Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh (11, 41b) for the sixth wicket carried India to 150.
However, Rodrigues and Ghosh fell to Hamilton and Ash Gardner in the space of an over as India once again found themselves in trouble at 150 for seven.
A 38-run alliance between the two other Indian debutants -- Kashvee Gautam (34 not out) and Sayali Satghare (7, 35b) -- for the ninth wicket helped India move closer to 200.