NRMA Insurance Border -Gavaskar Test Series
2nd Test (Day Night Pink Ball) Played at Adelaide Oval
Brief Scorecard
India 1st Innings 180 All Out in 44.1 Overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 42, KL Rahul 37, R Ashwin 22, Rishabh Pant 22, Mitchell Starc 6/48, Pat Cummins 2/41, Scott Boland 2/54)
India 2nd Innings 175 All Out in 36.5 Overs (Nitish Kumar Reddy 42, Rishabh Pant 28, Shubman Gill 28, Yashasvi Jaiswal 24, Pat Cummins 5/57. Scott Bolland 3/51. Mitchell Starc 2/60)
Australia 1st Innings 337 All Out in 87.3 Overs (Travis Head 140, Marnus Labuchagne 64, Nathan McSweeney 39, Jasprit Bumrah 4/61, Mohammad Siraj 4/ 98)
Australia 2nd Innings 19/0 in 3.2 Overs.
Australia won the test by 10 wickets. Series stands at 1-1
Player of the match: Travis Head
Playing much superior brand of aggressive cricket Australia crashed India by 10 wickets in the day night pink ball test at Adelaide within the first session of day three. It was a brilliant bounce back by team Australia after suffering an ignominious first test defeat by India at Perth by a huge margin of 295 Runs.
India batting first could not adjust to the fast furious pace attack with the pink ball. They were bundled out for 180 in the first innings. Local hero Travis Head blasted Indian attack scoring stroke full 140 in 141 as Australia took a commanding lead of 157 in the first innings. Australian pacers exploited Indian weakness against short balls on bouncy wicket restricting them to 175 in the 2nd innings. Australia cruised home scoring 19/0 in 3.2 overs and hammering home with 10 wickets victory. The five matches series as part of ICC test championship is now levelled 1-1. Three following tests at Brisbane, Boxing Day Test at MCG and New Years test at SCG will decide the fate of one or both of the team proceeding to the final of ICC Test Championship final in 2025.
The massive loss of Australia at Perth surprised many. Australians looked rusty and out of shorts. It was expected that they would bounce back with vengeance at Adelaide. Indian team got stronger on paper with the return of their captain Rohot Sharma and talented top order batter Shubman Gill. India also included star spinning all-rounder Ravichandra Ashwin.
The pace of the encounter was well set with Mitchell Starc removing the first test hero Indian prodigy Yashasvi Jaiswal with the very first ball. India could not recover from there. The star-studded Indian batting had no answer to brilliant pace attack spearheaded by redoubtable Mitchell Starc (6/48) ably assisted by Scott Boland back in the team to replace injured Josh Hazelwood. Top order key batsmen Kohli, Rohit, Rahul, Gill all failed. Late middle order batsman Nitesh Kumar Reddy scoring 42 tried to resist. Rishabh Pant’s stay was a breezy 21.
Quality Indian pacers were supposed to exploit great bowling conditions. But apart from Jasprit Bumrah taking 4/68. Siraj bowled all within himself, taking also 4 wickets. But was expensive giving away 98 runs. Flamboyant Travis Head playing yet another brilliant innings of 140 in 141 balls took the match away from the Indians. Marnus Labuchagne grafted well for his 64. Rookie Nathan McSweeney also scored 39. Australia achieving 157 first innings lead pushed India back to the wall.
Indian second innings had no answer to the fast, short and well directed Australian bowling. Gill, Kohli, Rohit, and Rahul again failed. Nitesh Reddy (42) and Pant (28) again tried to resurrect. But it was too little they could do. Pat Cummins bowling short consistently aiming at the rib cages of Indian batsmen led to Indian Innings getting wrapped up at 175. Cummings took 5 /57. Scott Bolland again contributed taking 3/51.
Australia required scoring 19 for the win, which they did with ease in only 3.2 overs. The dominance of Australia in the test was so pronounced that in two innings put together Indians could bat only 81 overs. Australian 1st Innings lasted for 87.3 overs. Indians were thoroughly outplayed in the test.
There is still a lot to play in the series yet. Australia bounced back from their defeat at Perth. Now it is for the Indians for regrouping and rebounding. Brisbane wicket usually assist both batsmen and bowlers. Cricket admirers can expect see saw battle in the remaining tests of the series .
BDST: 1453 HRS, DEC 06, 2024
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