Ranchi, March 18: While India put up a brave fight on the field, Ranchi residents preferred to watch the first Test on home turf in T20 mode, trooping in for short stints of Test cricket and then breaking off for their weekend staple of family outings.

The Singh family of four dropped in at 9am, but left around noon for a trip to the zoo, while a bunch of college students from Bundu arrived half hour before lunch and left since their favourite, Virat Kohli, got out cheaply for 6.

"We have watched many T20 matches here in the past. But watching a Test is tough. Except me, no one in the family loves a Test match," said Rishi Singh (55), a manager at a private company, who was with his wife and two daughters.

Singh said he managed to convince his family to accompany him to the JSCA stadium first by promising them a sightseeing trip of the city. They hadn't gone out as a family in a long time and today was the day.

"We wanted to go on a city tour today, but dad wanted to see the match. So, we thought of the middle path. Some cricket first followed by some sightseeing in fatafat (instant) style," quipped daughter Shalini who is preparing for medical entrance exams.

Birsa zoo and Jonha falls were on the family's itinerary.

The Bundu college friends seemed impatient from beginning. They arrived half hour before lunch. Opener Murli Vijay's wicket had fallen before that. In came Virat Kohli, the much sought-after Indian skipper amid a huge roar. But he too returned to the pavilion falling prey to Australian spinner Cummins.

" Chal ab Panchghag chalte hain. Fir kal nai hoga. (Let's go to Panchghag now. Won't have the time tomorrow," Suman Mahto told his friends at South Pavilion. "We came to see Kohli bat but now were are going for ride through the countryside in Khunti," he added.

There were over 7,000 spectators at the stadium today, comprising primarily school and college students. Most of them had been given passes, courtesy the district administration.

The Ojhas of Ramgarh, who drove 100km from their home to Deori temple on NH-33, took a detour and reached the stadium around noon and bought tickets.

"From Namkum, we took a detour via Ring Road to reach the JSCA stadium. The counters were opened and we bought three tickets of Rs 250 each. It was our first time watching a match. We knew there wouldn't be a rush so we decided to give it a shot," said Mahesh Ojha, a businessman, adding that they planned to leave after a couple of hours.

JSCA is hoping for a better turnout tomorrow, a Sunday.

This could well be true with Cheteshwar Pujara's century keeping India still in the hunt.