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The series began at Adelaide Oval with Australia arriving at 6 for 354 on an enthusiastic first day's play, Warner having scored a century and Smith on his route to one. The similitudes were clear on the first day in Sydney, where Australia completed in a much stronger position at 2 for 348, with Smith on 82 and Watson on 61 and India apparently holding up to witness what would next.
In Adelaide, the distress after Phillip Hughes' passing was still crude, and Warner looked to the sky when he arrived at his hundred, recalling his fallen companion. In Sydney he did so once more, yet the more piercing minute came when he tickled a solitary to move to 63, evacuated his protective cap and gloves and stooped down to kiss the grass by the side of the pitch where Hughes had caved in.
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